The Future Water Supply of Birmingham. f Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 I I' https://archive.org/details/b20410505 The laying ol the Comniemoration Stone by the Lord Mayor (Councillor James Smith), May 2Nth, 1897. THE FUTURE WATER SUPPLY OF BIRMINGHAM. BY THOMAS BARCLAY, SOMETIME MEMBER OF THE WATER COMMITTEE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF BIRMINGHAM. THIRD EDITION. REVISED AND ENLARGED. BIRMINGHAM: CORNISH BROTHERS, 37, New Street. LONDON : SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., Limited. BIRMINGHAM : PRINTED AT THE PRIVATE PRESS OF SOUTHALL BROTHERS AND BARCLAY, LTD. W£LLC(}V;E iWS'nTUTE ColS Caii No. ]Jkkl5 DEDICATED TO EDWARD LAWLEY PARKER, Esq, J.P, Alderman and sometime Mayor of the City of Birmingham, DURING WHOSE MAYORALTY THE Birmingham Corporation Water Bill WAS promoted BY THE City Council, WHO rendered conspicuous service during the Parliamentary Campaign, WHICH resulted in the Bill being carried into Law, and upon the death of Sir Thomas Martineau, was unanimously CHOSEN TO OCCUPY THE HIGHLY ONEROUS AND HONOURABLE POSITION OF ChAI-RMAN of THE WaTER COMMITTEE. PREFACE. The first five chapters in the present edition were written prior to the passing of the Birmingham Corporation Water Act, 1892, and, as they still possess interest to those who may be desirous of learning why the scheme was undertaken, I have thought it advisable to reprint them in their original form. The additional chapters give particulars of the passing of the Act, some account of the Liverpool, Manchester and London water supplies, the provision made for the interim supply of Birmingham, a description of the works in the Elan Valley, showing the progress made in the construction of the reservoirs on the watershed and at Frankley, and what has already been accomplished on the line of aqueduct. Mr. E. Orford Smith, the Town Clerk of Birmingham, has rendered me valuable assistance, and also placed at my disposal the Blue Book containing the evidence given before the Parliamentary Committee. Whilst I cannot sufficiently thank Mr. E. Antony Lees, the Secretary of the Water Department, for the exceptionally useful aid he has given me, and it is to him that I am indebted for the very graphic description of the navvy village which is included in this edition. By the courtesy of Mr. James Mansergh, M.I.C.E., I am enabled to reproduce the ^ coloured map and photograph of the model of the watershed used in the Parliamentary evidence. On the former will be seen the watershed of the Elan and Claerwen, the line of aqueduct to Frankley, the Birming- ham and other water areas, and a sectional plan showing the hydraulic gradient, and the geological formation of the country traversed by the aqueduct. Through the kindness of Mr. Mansergh the privilege has been accorded me of publishing the series of interesting photographs which illustrate the progress of the works. I desire to take this opportunity of express- ing my gratitude to the many other gentle- men who have helped me with information on different points touched on in the book. Among these I would specially mention the Prefet of the Department of the Seine, Sir James Sawyer, M.D., Mr. Joseph Parry, C.E., Engineer to the Liverpool Corporation, Mr. William Blackstock, Secretary to the Manchester Corporation Waterworks, Mr. G. N. Yourdi, C.E., Resident Engineer of the Elan Valley Works, and Mr. Henry Johnson, F.G.S., M.S.A. THOMAS BARCLAY. Arncliffe, MOSELEY, August, 1898. ERRA TA PAGE 113, line 15, for " 22nd," read " 27th " 140, line 13, insert " highest " before " possible." igG, line 17, for " Preston," read " Prescot " CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Present Water Demand and Supply. Wells : Aston, Witton, King's Vale, Perry, Sally Oak, Longbridge— Streams : Plant's Brook, Perry and Witton, Blythe and Bourne— Future require- ments— Future supply — Local development — Our rivers : Bourne, Plant's Brook, Rea, Shenstone— Increase of wells— Wells and springs at Paris- Warning from London— Our wells : King's Vale, Longbridge — Geological formation of the district —The opinion of an experienced mining engineer- Artesian wells— Their quality— Digbeth artesian well— Quality of additional local water— The River Tame — Local sources inadequate ... i — 24 CHAPTER n. Conditions of a Suitable Supply. Quality — Quantity — Elevation — More distant sources suggested : Severn, Teme, Ithon, Wye, Elan and Claerwen — Gathering ground of the Elan and Claerwen— Quality of moorland waters— The Elan— Loch Katrine— TheVrynwy— Wells- Streams : River Rea, Tame— Moorland waters : Elan, Vrynwy, Sheffield, Loch Katrine, Elan- Quantity of water— Rainfall— Height above sea- level 25—37 CHAPTER III. Works Necessary, Cost, etc. The compensation reservoir — Supply reservoirs on the Elan — On the Claerwen— Service reservoir and filter beds— Route — Cost of compensation reser- voir, conduit, iron pipes, etc., for first instalment — Second, third, and fourth supplies —Additional local reservoirs and mains — Total cost, including the purchase of the watershed — Expenditure gradual— Sinking fund-Growth of income— Saving in pumping — Reductions re-imposed — Expendi- ture met — The schemes financially compared — Annual charges of additional supply from deep wells, etc. — Ditto Welsh scheme, Heavy per- petual charges— Statutory Town's meeting— Poll demanded — Result of poll — Financial scheme — Expenditure gradual 3^ — ^° CHAPTER IV. Action of Moorland Water on Lead, etc. Remedies— Mr. Joseph Parry, C.E.— The Liver- pool supply at the Vyrnwy, Oswestry, and Prescot The two Sheffield suppUes, high and low level— The Elan water— Economic advantages of a soft water for Town's supply : Saving in soap— Less boiler incrustation— Coincidences— Advantages- Chairmen of Water Committee : Mr. Alderman Avery, Sir Thomas Martineau — The engineer, Mr. J. W. Gray— Forward 61—76 CHAPTER V. Objections answered. Financial objections— Double sets of pipes— Will water deteriorate by running through eighty miles of conduit ?— The action of moorland water on lead —Engineering difficulties— Are lime salts neces- sary for a town's supply ?— Sir James Sawyer, M.D. —A letter from Mr. Henry Johnson, F.G.S., M.S.A 77-92 CHAPTER VI. The Scheme before Parliament. Bill, passed standing orders— Arrangements for supply of water to towns en route— Fr'ior right of Birmingham retained— First reading— Position of London— Second reading — Bill in Committee- Case for Corporation — London opposition — Hereford opposition — Birmingham opposition- Opinion of the Committee on the local case- Welsh opposition— Preamble of Bill proved— New clauses— Angling rights of Rhayader— The Wye fishers Compensation water — Concession to Hereford— Third reading— First reading in Lords —Second and third reading in Lords— The Royal assent 93— CHAPTER VH. The steps taken by the Birmingham Water Committee in regard to finance, and for pro- viding an increased supply of water during THE construction OF THE WeLSH WORKS. Appointment of new secretary — Economies — Annual saving — New pumping engineer — New supply : The Perry sinking — Adjustment of charges — Saving in fuel — Capital expenditure — Tests of quality — Bacteriological examination 117 — 128 CHAPTER VIII. The scheme commenced — Engagement of Mr. Mansergh and staff — Plan of operations — Construction of the first railway — Mr. Lees' ACCOUNT of the NAVVY VILLAGE. Mr. Mansergh's appointment — Important decision of the Committee — Mr. Yourdi appointed — The first railway — The navvy village — Mr. Lee's de- scription— Trading regulation — Shops and huts — School and mission room — Recreation room — Hospital — Doss house — The supply of intoxicating drink — The canteen — The canteen regulations — The social results — The canteen profits and their apportionment — Farmhouse accomodation — Vil- lage water supply 129 — 159 CHAPTER IX. The construction of the reservoirs on the Elan, the aqueduct to birmingham, and the reser- VOIR AND FILTER BEDS AT FrANKLEY, WITH PARTICULARS OF THE VARIOUS WORRS CONNECTED THEREWITH. The Caban Coch reservoir— The commemoration and foundation stones— The second railway— The Pen-y-Gareg reservoir — The Craig Goch reservoir — The submerged dam — The material of the foundations — The stone quarries — Cyclopean rubble — Construction of the dams — Conditions of reservoir building — The crushing plant — Skilful organization — The " wind-jammer " — The Foel tunnel and valve tower — The aqueduct — Syphon chambers— The conduit — The Dolau and Knighton tunnels — Teme Valley syphon— Severn and Stour syphon — Hydrauhc gradient — The Severn cross- ing— The Frankley reservoir — The filter beds — The Warley and Northfield reservoirs i6o — igo CHAPTER X. Notes on the new Liverpool and Manchester WATER undertakings, WITH SOME PARTICULARS OF THE PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE London water supply. Liverpool : Description of Lake Vrynwy — Com- pensation water — Straining tower — Area of water- shed— -The water brought by gravitation — Present supply and future resources — Cost of present and future supplies — Manchester : Opposition to the scheme — New point raised on land purchase — Work let out to contractors — Length and descrip- tion of conduit— Cost of first instalment — Total estimated cost of scheme — London ; Intermittent supply — Action of London County Council — Royal Commission — Proposed Welsh auxiliary supply 191— 214 ILLUSTRATIONS, TABLES, CHARTS, ETC. The laying of the Commemoration Stone . . frontispiece. Pen-y-Gareg . . facing page I Geological Chart ■ • • • , i6 Caban Coch • • 32 Sections of Reservoirs . . • • 40 Cil Oerwynt • 48 Financial Table . . • 56 Lake Vyrnwy 64 Craig-yr-Allt-G6ch • ■ > • , 80 Model of Watershed 112 Views of the Navvy Village 144 Operations on the Watershed 160 Table of sections of Aqueduct 168 Operations on the Watershed 176 ,, ,. ,, Aqueduct 184 Lake Thirlmere . . 200 Map showing route of Aqueduct, Geological Chart, etc. 214 THE FUTURE WATER SUPPLY OF BIRMINGHAM. CHAPTER I. Present Water Demand and Supply. jpERHAPS the heaviest responsibihty resting on any local government is the establishment and maintenance of a proper supply of water for those under its care. How unpardonable a failure in this all- important matter ! Yet how vast the task ! Few, except those whose duty it is to look closely into the matter, have anything like a correct idea of the quantity of water required for the various wants of a city like Birmingham. 2 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY In foods, solid and liquid, it is Present Water ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ly from 3 to 5 pints Demand. ^^^^ ^ consumed. But, for all domestic purposes together, there is used in Birmingham 15 gallons a head daily. Add to this the water required for baths and other sanitary purposes, for watering streets, for hydraulic lifts, for the production of steam for manufactures, and for use in many industrial processes, and the average daily consumption is, we are ' not surprised to find, 23 gallons per head. ■I It must be borne in mind, too, that the City Council, which by Act of Parliament is constituted the Water Authority, is under obligation to supply, not only the inhabitants of the City of Birmingham, but also those of a large district outside, which together is called the Parliamentary Area, covering 83,000 acres, the inhabitants num- bering in all 658,878. For these consumers the Corporation had to provide 6,141 million gallons of water for the year ending March, 1891, sufficient to form a lake 3ft. deep, with a surface of 12 square miles. OF BIRMINGHAM. 3 The pipes, by which the present water supply is conveyed to consumers, measure 576 miles in length. In the " Few Notes on the Water Supply of Birmingham," ^^uHt. I issued in 1888, I showed that the resources of the Corporation were at that time : — I. WELLS. Aston ... yielding 3 million gallons a day. Witton ... „ 2^ ,, ,, King's Vale ,, J ,, „ Perry ... ,, 2 „ „ Selly Oak ,, ,, „ making a total of 9 million gallons a day of well-water. IL STREAMS. Plant's Brook, yielding 2 million gals, a day. Perry and Witton | Streams ) Blythe ,, 2| „ „ Bourne ... ,, 2 ,, ,, making a total of million gallons a day of river water. The latter is collected from five separate watersheds, having a total area of 11 1 1 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY OF BIRMINGHAM. 5 square miles. Since then, another deep well has been sunk at Longbridge, near Rubery, which is expected to yield about million gallons a day. Including this, from streams and wells we obtain a supply of i8 million gallons a day. Our storage reservoirs, in time of drought, may be reckoned upon for 2f million gallons a day additional, so that, at present, the Corpor- ation's supply is very little ahead of the demand, which amounts to some 17 million gallons a day on the average, but the maximum last year was 22 millions. It would, therefore, be inexcus- able to rest satisfied with the „ Put^'^ Requirements. supply at present available, as a few facts will show. At a recent meeting of the Committee, the pipes sanctioned for new streets and roads measured close on a mile in length. The demand has been increasing of late years at the rate of 3% per annum. If the same rate of increase is maintained, within ten years from now the demand will be in excess of the present average supply. 6 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY The accompanying Chart shows at a glance the annual growth of the Depart- | ment, both as to income and the quantity of water distributed, from the years 1859 to 1890 inclusive. To maintain a full provision for an ever- growing population is a problem which requires much forethought, but, as I stated in the Notes already referred to, "The Council are determined to leave nothing undone to maintain the security and purity of the water supply of the district dependent upon them, and to keep well ahead of the growing needs of the consumers." The Committee accordingly, taking thought for the future, and fearing that the local resources might prove inadequate, have for some time past been seriously considering the question of their prospective requirements, and the Engineer, Mr. J. W. Gray, M.I.C.E., was requested by resolu- tion to report on our present position, and the best means for maintaining the water supply of the city. In response he brought up a very able report, in which he showed OF BIRMINGHAM. 7 that 25 years hence there would probably be required daily 1 1 million gallons of water more than our present supply can yield, and in 50 years 38 million gallons more. On receiving this report, the Committee felt that they must supply! immediately take steps to secure such an additional supply of good water, as would remove all apprehensions for some time to come, if they were to discharge their responsibility to their fellow-citizens, and continue true to the Committee's tradition of foresight. A resolution was accordingly passed requesting the Engineer to the Water Department, and also Mr. J. Mansergh, M.I.C.E., of Westminster, the well-known expert, to report what works they would recommend for giving such an additional water supply as would, with the existing sources, provide for periods of 25 and 50 years respectively. Naturally their attention was directed first to the development _ ^^^^^ . ^ Development. of the supply from local sources, 8 ' FUTURE WATER SUPPLY and a most thorough examination was made of all possible additions. A most careful scheme was drawn up by Mr. Gray, em- bodying all these sources. From the facts furnished by him it is easy to estimate how far these local developments will avail. Four reservoirs might be con- cur Rivers. ^^^^^^^^ ^he watershed of the Bourne for the storage of its flood waters, which, though at present allowed to flow down the river, might, if collected in the reservoirs, with time to deposit the sus- pended matter, flow along the present stream to the existing reservoir at Shustoke. The whole drainage area of the Bourne above the Shustoke reservoir being 10,880 acres, and the mean rainfall about 28 inches, the surface of the reser- voirs which would have to be made, would cover an area of 275 acres, and if the banks of the Shustoke reservoir were raised, additional storage would be provided for 1,131 million gallons; but after making the usual allowances for unstorable water and evaporation, the Engineer is of opinion that OF BIRMINGHAM. 9 the area and rainfall are not competent to provide continuously more than 7 million gallons a day. The Engineer fur- , r Plant's Brook, ther reported that m the valley 01 the Plant's Brook, various pools by Sutton Park might be purchased by arrangement or under Act of Parliament, but not more than half a million gallons a day could be relied upon from this source during a six months' drought. He also shewed that it would be necessary, if the flood waters of the Bourne were taken, to double the engine power and filter beds at Whitacre within the next 20 years ; but that the increased supply would be insufficient for the require- ments of the consumers at that period. Further, that there is no other river-water suitable for our purpose in the local area. It was certainly suggested by a corres- pondent in the Daily Press that the city might be supplied from the upper reaches of the Rea. I recently inspected this famous river some little distance from its source, and had an analysis made of its water, the results of which are shown later on, where it will be lO FUTURE WATER SUPPLY seen that the quaUty of the water is not by any means unimpeachable, and, moreover, there is too Uttle of it ; and what there is, has already been turned to very practical use by manufacturers, as it makes its way to Birmingham. Therefore the Rea is out of the question. There is, besides those belonging Shenstone. Corporation, only one local stream worthy of consideration— the Shen- stone Brook, which rises north-east of Barr Beacon— but as this flows through the district which is supplied by the South Staffordshire Water Company, it would be fatal to our obtaining it for Birmingham. Consequently, if we are to depend upon local resources, we cannot look to streams for our provision, but shall have to turn to deep wells in order to obtain the necessary quantity to supply the city. The present deep wells average Increase ^ ^^[{y yield of about million gallons each ; it would, therefore, require 20 to 25 of them to complete the supply if the same average yield were OF BIRMINGHAM. II maintained. The question immediately arises, would it be possible to find water in sufficient quantity by boring so many wells in the district, and if so, would the water be suitable in quality for the general supply of the inhabitants ? Further, if these questions could be satisfactorily answered, would it be prudent for the city to rely mainly on wells for a permanent supply of water ? It may be said at the outset, that there is no considerable town in Great Britain, with the exception of Wolverhampton, which is supplied mainly from wells. Liverpool and Manchester have both within recent years been compelled to increase their water supply, but in neither case has it been thought advisable to attempt this by means of deep wells. In Liverpool several of the old sandstone wells have had to be aban- doned in consequence of the deterioration of the water. Since 1850 the hardness of the water in their principal well has grad- ually increased from 7^ to 30^ degrees, which is due to the well having had to be 12 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY sunk deeper and deeper to obtain the necessary supply. The total yield of these deep wells in Liverpool is only 6i million gallons a day. It has been stated that the city of Paris is supplied mainly by at Paris. water from deep wells, but that this is not the case is shown by the follow- ing extracts from an official letter I received from the Pr6fet, in reply to an enquiry I addressed to him respecting the water supply of Paris :— " The capital is supphed in very unequal proportions-(i) by waters confined in the Canal de I'Ourcq ; (2) by river water ; (3) by spring water; (4) in a very small quantity by the water of artesian wells. '« The water specially used for domestic purposes is derived from two small rivers, the Dhuis and the Vanne. These two rivers being notoriously insufficient for the supply of the city ; the Water Committee has recently obtained authority to draw from additional springs. The artesian wells OF BIRMINGHAM. 13 furnish only very small quantities of water — that of Crenelle only gives 77,000 gallons; those at Passy yield about 130,000 gallons a day. Their water serves for the supply of the lakes in the Bois de Bologne. The boring of two other artesian wells was commenced several years ago, but their completion has up to the present been delayed." Water is also obtained for the flushing of sewers and gutters, the supply of fountains and industrial purposes, from the Canal de L'Ourcq and the rivers Marne and Seine. Each street is provided with a double set of pipes, the one for carrying drinking water, the other for public services and industrial needs. In a very interesting article on the London water supply (one ^""'"^ 'rom 1 • , . London. ot a series which have recently appeared in the British Medical Journal), it IS pointed out that that supply is very insecure. The article states that "in the valleys of the Colne and Lea, and in the main valley of the Thames, springs which 14 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY were perennial 30 years ago are now run dry Mills are being abandoned for lack of water power, and rivers which once flowed regularly are now lost in holes, or flow scantily for a few weeks in the season. The level of the water in deep wells has fallen 20ft. m as many years. In 1821 the water in a well m East London stood at Trinity high water mark 22ft. above sea level ; m 1851 its average height was 43ft- below, and in 1881 it was 105ft. below, a lowering of 127ft in 60 years. This is not due to diminished rainfall, which has been nearly 2in above the average of the previous 30 years, but the cause lies wholly and solely in the fact that water has been, and is being, increasingly drawn from the chalk basin in excess of the supply." Our own experience also in the Our Wells. j^^tter of deep wells is far from encouraging. When the King's Vale Well was sunk, the opinion of experts was taken, and it was considered the best site in the Red Sandstone. It was confidently expected that 6 million gallons a day would OF BIRMINGHAM. 15 be obtained from it, but the actual yield was found to be only 300 thousand gallons a day. Then, recently, a site for a deep well was selected at Harborne after a careful exam- ination of the neighbourhood. A trial bore-hole was made at a cost of /400, but the yield of water was so small that the site was abandoned. Fortunately arrangements had been made with the owner of the land to take it back if the experiment proved unsatisfactory. The result, however, was loss of time and about ^400 for expenses. Then, again, at Longbridge, near the Lickey Hills, our last sinking, which is in the most likely part of the whole district for obtaining a good supply, the yield is much less than was anticipated. If we get U million gallons a day, the average quantity of the other wells, it is all we may expect. The uncertainty, both as to ^ . . .1 ^ ^. , Tlie Opinion ttie quantity and quality of water of an from additional wells, is clearly 'TninT' demonstrated by Henry Johnson, Engineer. Esq., F.G.S., M.S.A., past President (1883), i6 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY and Member of Council of the South Staffordshire and East Worcestershire Institute of Mining Engineers; than whom no one is better qualified to speak on the geological formation of the district as it was his father and he who projected and carried out the scheme for the smkmg of the Sandwell Park Colliery; during which operation they went right through the Red Sandstone formation into the coal measui. below. The depth to the bottom of the Permian Formation being 600 feet, and to fhe'hick coal x,.54 feet, whilst the toU depth of the shaft is 1,313 feet. In his interesting letter published in Chapter V., he says : — . It would appear that there exists a general impression that districts of the New ■led Sandstone Formation are capable of yielding inexhaustible supplies of under- water, an impression, no doubt founded upon an erroneous impression as to tounaeu v „„„iatine the c rculation the circumstances regulating of underground water. „The 'New Red Sandstone' around The Future Water Supply of Birmingham , "N ^- N" I . Section sKewmg Cenera.l Order of Strata.. S.E" Cvboniferous Tt-iASS/c Ne» Red Sa.ntJstone. 3- a. Poroui> StrsLta. fc b. b b ImpervtOMS &traAa. OF BIRMINGHAM. 17 Birmingham is no doubt inadequate as a receiver (absorber) of the local rain-fall to supply the wants of the city for the follow- ing reasons : — " Capacity for collecting rain-fall is gov- erned by the area of the exposed edges of the porous strata, and these occur at outcrops situate Westward of Birmingham and within the ' Black Country ' area, and, consequently, are calculated to pollute the supply at its source. "A supply can only enter at the surface exposure of the porous strata of the New Red Formation, and, therefore, must be proportionate to the area of exposed porous strata. (See Chart, Section No. 2.) " The New Red and Permian Formations are, no doubt, saturated or charged to the full when first ' tapped ' by bore-hole or shaft, which is quite a natural condition of things, and to be accounted for by a reference to the Law of Gravitation ; but there can be no doubt (at least so far as my i8 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY experience goes) that the capacity of the porous strata to take up at their outcrops and convey the rain-fall, is inadequate to replenish the enormous quantity withdrawn by continuous powerful pumping at spots where the same strata are more deeply seated. "Speaking briefly, a well supply is a passage of rain-fall from the surface through porous strata to varying depths, and there raised up to the surface again. "This has been conclusively proved in the Sandwell Park Colliery, where, during the process of sinking the trial shaft, the 'come' or maximum quantity of water which had to be dealt with, was 750 gallons per minute, but after pumping for a short period, the sandstones and other porous strata were drained to their outcrops (m- cluding several shallow wells), and ceased to yield that quantity, which gradually became less and less until the regular average yield was only 41 gallons per minute. OF BIRMINGHAM. 19 " It was originally intended to make the sinking a pumping station for a water supply, but in consequence of the ultimate unexpected very small yield, together with the fact that on analysis the water proved to be very highly contaminated with ammonia (no doubt the product of the manure in the land and surface drainage) the project was abandoned. " The New Red and Permian Formations — which are dislocated by faults of great extent and comparatively unfissured strata — are inadequate to the filtration and circula- tion, and as a conduit of water, sufficient in quantity to warrant the expenditure requisite to construct and equip deep wells for a permanently increasing demand. " Obstruction to a passage of water through the new red sandstone may be caused by the dislocation of the strata — the effect of which is that porous strata abut against impervious strata, and this may be taken to account for wells in the same ^locality yielding varying quantities of water. (See Chart, Sections Nos. 2 and 3.) 20 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY " It may reasonably be inferred that the longer sandstone, or any other porous strata are subjected to an unnatural (continuous and rapid) passage of water, consequent on the withdrawal of it in the dip, the less their capacity as a conduit; because, in consequence of the infiltration of foreign and solid matter conveyed along with the water in its passage from the outcrops to the pumps, the pores of the strata become gradually choked, thus causing a decreased rather than a regular permanent supply. I have myself practically proved this to the extent of hollowing out a large block of sandstone for the purpose of a filter, and supplying it with shaft-water charged with solid matter. "The construction of additional wells to be capable of 'tapping' water-bearing strata within moderate depths must be the west of the extensive north and south Red Marl Fault, which occurs about 400 yards east of the Bull Ring, and runs a course of more than 20 miles, throwing down a vast expanse of Keuper marls against Bunter OF BIRMINGHAM. 21 sandstones, and thereby forming a water- tight barrier. (See Chart, Section No. i.) Borings for water through this great thick- ness of red marl would be of very considerable depth, and, consequently, very expensive to equip and maintain, besides which there is the great probability — in consequence of a south easterly attenuation of the Bunter or water-bearing beds beneath the red marl — that the yield of water would be limited in quantity." I also find after an analysis of several Artesian Wells in the water "^^^^^ area that the water is so impure, that it is unfit, not only for drinking and domestic use, but even for manufacturing purposes. In one case where the water was used for a hydraulic lift, it had to be given up through the chlorides acting on the metal. The solids in seven of these waters amount to 52, 53, 109, 127, 118, 152 and 182 grains respectively in the gallon, the hardness of the three last being 78, 75 and 68 degrees as against solids 21-5 and hardness 13-2, the amount in our present supply, and 22 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY solids 5-0 and hardness r8 in the proposed new supply. These remarks do not apply to the whole of the wells, as the Digbeth Artesian Well, for example, yields a very good water. From the foregoing it is evident that it would be most unwise to trust to deep wells for the main future supply of water for the district. Then as to the quality of the Quality o! ^^^^^ if obtained locally. There lolTwaTer. can be no doubt that water drawn from watersheds which are highly cultivated and largely covered with houses, must be looked upon with suspicion, and it is only a question of time when it will become quite unfit for drinking and domestic use This especially applies to surface water. The river Tame is an illustration. This river was originally the main supply of Birming- ham but in 1869 it had become so impure that it had to be abandoned for domestic use It may therefore be expected that, 25 years hence, some of the streams which are OF BIRMINGHAM. 23 now available will have so greatly deterio- rated, that they will have to be abandoned. We have now reviewed all pos- sible developments of our local inadequate. sources of water supply. We have found that from these it will be impossible to rely with any safety upon obtaining the quantity required. The engineers estimate that within 20 years the demand will exceed the utmost quantity that can be obtained from these sources. Sooner or later, then, we shall have to seek some more abundant supply, which would render expenditure on any local additions useless. We have found, too, that the quality of the water derived from local sources will be lowered by increas- ing the quantity secured, and, that owing to the increasing population and cultivation of the area from which it is drawn, it will deteriorate. We are warned, too, that any extension to the scattered and complicated works, necessary where there are so many small sources drawn upon, will render the management difficult and cumbrous. The Committee, when they began the 24 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY enquiry, had anticipated that additions to the local sources would meet all their require- ments, but these considerations compelled them to look beyond the circle from which hitherto they had drawn their supply. They recognised that if their local resources availed for 20 years, by that time they would have to be ready with the additional water required ; that this would mean that within 12 years from now, they would have to prepare a scheme for the sanction of the citizens and of Parliament ; that then they would be in a worse position than now, as there would be no supply within the Midlands available, while other towns might have secured desirable sources at present open. To dally with, and tinker at, a matter of so much importance to the large district involved, seemed to them alike unworthy and imprudent. OF BIRMINGHAM. 25 CHAPTER II. CONDITIONS OF A SUITABLE SUPPLY, It is a great and grave problem with which we are face to face. We have to find plenty of good water at as small a cost as possible — a task, which the situation of Birmingham, in the centre of England, and so high above the sea, makes more comphcated than in some other large towns. There are three primary condi- Conditions of . . a suitable tions requisite : — supply. (1) The quality of the water must be ex- ceptionally good, and not likely to deteriorate. (2) There must be a sufficiency for the district 50 years hence at least ; and (3) It must be taken from a region high enough to supply the city and district by gravitation, as far as possible. These conditions will recommend them- selves to all. Fifty years is but a short time in the history of a city, and the expense of going farther afield would be scarcely FUTURE WATER SUPPLY justified, if the provision secured were for less than that period. And if every gallon of water had to be pumped into the city, how immense the expenditure of time, labour, and money ! With regard to the quality of the water we have some obvious principles for our guidance. Both soil and rocks through which water flows or trickles, contain salts soluble in it. Now, the more highly the soil is cultivated, the more impure will the water be, as in flowing over its surface in streams or rivers, or pass- ing through it to form wells, it dissolves the manurial salts. This applies in a still greater degree to water collected in inhabited areas. Hence, as sanitary science is becom- ing better understood, local authorities are all endeavouring to secure their water supply from thinly - populated and uncultivated mountainous districts. This has already been done for several of the more important cities, including Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester ; but the circumstances of Bir- mingham, on account of its height above the level of the sea, and its great distance from any suitable watershed, are exceptional. OF BIRMINGHAM. 27 With these conditions in mind, ^^^.^ distant we now look round for the nearest sources gathering-ground that fulfils them. suggested. Eastward and Southward we have no water at all within reasonable distance. Northward are the Trent and the Derwent, but the former fails hopelessly before the tests of quality and gravitation, and the latter as regards quality and expense. We are, therefore, necessarily obliged to turn our attention to the West. The first river we meet is the Severn. Severn, but our conditions compel us to reject this. Near Bewdley, where the supply would have to be taken, the surface is only 45ft. above the sea level, that is, 486ft. below the Monument Lane Reservoir ; consequently, a large outlay in expensive plant, engines, filter-beds, &c., would be required. Besides, the water is greatly contaminated. The next river-basin we reach is the Teme, and in many respects it deserves favourable consideration. " But," Teme. 28 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY says Sir Robt. Rawlinson of it, in 1871, in a report he presented to the PubHc Works Committee, " of the 1,600 acres forming the watershed, a large proportion is cultivated land of considerable value, and the area is dotted all over with farm-houses and build- ings. A very small portion of this gathering- ground rises to a greater elevation than i,6ooft. above medium high-level. This source would, it is estimated, only yield 20 million gallons a day, so that it would require to be supplemented with the supply of the next river we come to as we travel westward, the Ithon, a tributary of the Wye." But of this, Sir Robt. Rawlinson reports — " That it is of too low an elevation, and that if it were taken, the scheme would entail the submersion and destruction of the somewhat important village of Llanddewi-y- stradenny." The watershed has an area of 20,400 acres, a large portion of which, however, is cultivated, and intersected by numerous roads. For these and other rea- sons, it is not considered suitable for our purpose. OF BIRMINGHAM. 29 Then as to the Wye itself, which next we reach, the area of this gathering-ground is about 12,800 acres, the greater part being mountain pasture, and a small portion being cultivated. But we should have to go so far up-stream before we came to a gathering-ground on the Wye, that we are glad to find nearer Birmingham, a source to which all the experts — Sir Robt. Rawlinson, Mr. Mansergh, and our own Engineer, Mr. Gray— without any hesita- tion, give the preference on every ground. This is the basin of the Elan and Claerwen (clear- white) streams 1 . 1 . ' Claerwen. which unite at Nantgwyllt, where the combined river takes the name of the Elan, afterwards emptying itself into the Wye, seven or eight miles higher up than the Ithon. Since the supply from this source seemed most admirably to meet the conditions above referred to, its gathering-ground was visited by the Chairman of the Water Committee (Alderman Sir Thos. Martineau), the whole of the members of the Committee, 30 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY together with the then Mayor (Mr. Alderman Clayton), some of the members of the City Council, and the Medical Officer of Health (Dr. Hill). Several days were spent in exploring the district, and the unanimous conclusion arrived at was that it answered the whole of the necessary conditions, and might be termed an ideal watershed. Sir Robert Rawlinson, in his valuable Report, previously referred to, says :— " It is very much superior to those before described, and, in fact, nothing better can be found in the country, nor could better be desired." The gathering - ground contains 45,000 acres, or 70 square miles, with Position. elevation varying from 800 to 2,iooft. above the sea-level. It is situated in Cardiganshire and Radnorshire, 80 miles due west of Birmingham. It consists of wild moorland. The whole population on it has been ascertained not to exceed 180 in number. As to the quality of the water, Quality. reports as follows —" I enclose the results of my analysis of the OF BIRMINGHAM. 31 sample of water from Rhayader, delivered to me. It is a pure and most excellent water for all practical purposes, domestic and otherwise, and shows what may be considered absolute freedom from animal pollution, while its great softness is a strong economical recommendation, both as regards cooking and washing, to say nothing of boiler use and industrial applications in general." I, myself, in the laboratory of the firm of which I am a member, have had several analyses made of the water under varying conditions, and compared it with other samples of moorland waters, including that of Loch Katrine, from which Glasgow is supplied, and that of Vyrnwy, which has been taken to Liverpool. The result is that I find the Elan water (here called Rhayader, from the name of the adjacent town) ranks as first-class, and is undoubtedly amongst the best in the United Kingdom for purity and general suitability for a town's supply. Perhaps it will be well to explain here, that m order to form an opinion upon the suita- 32 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY bility or otherwise of a water for drinking and domestic use, the analytical expert must determine the amount of dissolved sahne and organic matter in the water, and for this purpose his analytical results must show the quantity of solids in solution, the amount of free ammonia, albuminoid ammonia, and nitrites respectively; he must also determme the quantity of chlorine as representmg chlorides, and nitrates, which may, to some extent, also be due to organic matter. Having these data before him, he is enabled by experience to decide, whether the water is safe, or contaminated ; and if the latter, whether the contamination is of animal or vegetable origin. The Table on page 33 indicates the pro- portion in grains per gallon of these consti- tuents in the different waters enumerated, and it will be seen that the Rhayader water is very similar in quality to the new supply for Liverpool, and the water from Loch Katrine (the Glasgow supply); like the latter, it is free from nitrites and nitrates, while'the total solids in the gallon are only OF BIRMINGHAM. a < > a. D in o « 00 w "-I S < o s w 00 w m S w > o Q H b O w w -1 a, S < o h D O < O cn W CO >< < 2 00 >- < D Z >— 1 z w w W ra z < H « (J « D O O (H t-H o « > HARDNESS. N IT) M H M NITRATES. trace small trace trace NITRITES. absent absent mere trace ALBUMINOID AMMONIA. IN ON o OO rJ-OO GOO O O O bob AMMONIA. 00 M ro to GOG GOO bob CHLORINE. vo in m W W iH SOLIDS. |0 o M b\ ^ N w N From tap in Bull Street Well supplies . . Rivers and Streams . . 33 H O in (U • c-l trac uan cr w m o 4) ni ho Ul u J5 OO Tl- O N G O b b m o G M b b b b ir, o H o u 3 o tn • u cd (U lU U n in in lO ip ro CHL M b bob IDS. in o O O M SOL M cn CM vb in N ■ 0) • p. 03 M a - ^2 ?;> s c« bo • o ■ bo V) a O cti . ■-. . J CJ S I/I z z I- u ui < z 5 a ii i OF BIRMINGHAM. 41 The first supply reservoir on the Elan will be made at Pen-y-Garesj „ Supply ° Reservoirs on by a dam 192 yards across the the Elan, river, and the second at Craig-yr- Allt — Goch, where the dam across the river will measure 239 yards. The first of the three supply reservoirs on the Claerwen will ^.^ Claerwen. be made at Dol-y-Mynech, where the dam across the river will measure 325 yards ; the next at Cil Oerwynt, the dam being 371 yards across ; and the third at Pant-y-Beddaw, where the dam will measure 254 yards. The storage capacity, area, and height above the level of the sea of these reservoirs are intended to be as follows : — Name. Storage capacity Area Height above in million in level of of galls. Acres. sea. Caban Coch ... 7,540 497 800 Pen-y-Gareg .. 1,320 124 945 Craig-yr-AUt — Goch 2,000 217 1,040 Dol-y-Mynech .. 1,500 148 900 Cil Oerwynt ... 3,100 269 1.095 Pant-y-Beddaw : . I ,goo 244 1. 175 The compensation reservoir will be com- pleted first, and two out of the five supply reservoirs will be proceeded with as soon as possible. 42 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY The remaining supply reservoirs will only be constructed when required by the in- creased demand for water during the next 50 years. From the storage reservoirs it is Service proposed to bring the water to a "b^ large service reservoir and filter beds 200ft. lower at Frankley, near Birmingham, by means of tunnels through the hills, and cut and cover work over the level, whilst five iron pipes will be used m crossing the valleys and rivers. There will be about 8| miles of tunnels, 35I miles of cut and cover, and 34i miles of iron pipes. The cut and cover and tunnels will be 8ft. and the iron pipes 42in. in diameter. The extent of the gathering-ground in Wales, and the route by which the water will be brought to Birmingham, are shown on the map. It will be seen that the conduit passes a little to the south of Rhayader and near Knighton, Ludlow, Cleobury-Mortimer, through the Wyre Forest, then by Kidderminster, Stour- bridge, and Hagley on to Frankley, where there is to be a reservoir. It is also mtended OF BIRMINGHAM. 43 to make a covered service reservoir at Northfield. The conduit will in its passage cross the following rivers: — The Wye, a Httle south of Rhayader; the Ithon and four of its tributary streams ; the Teme three times ; two tributaries of the Teme ; the Severn to the North of Bewdley ; the Stour and one of its tributaries. The important question of Cost remains to be considered. At a Meeting of the Council on October 13th, 1891, the Water Com- mittee, through their Chairman (Sir Thos. Martineau), presented a report stating that the Engineer, Mr. Mansergh, had ^^^^ completed the detailed survey, and Reservoirs, had submitted estimates for the iron Pipes, etc., 1 T-u c ^ 4-- £3,340,700. necessary works. The first portion of the works, which includes the tunnels, cut and cover work, two out of the five iron pipes, three reservoirs in Wales, and the reservoirs and filters at Frankley, affording as a whole a daily supply of 26 million gallons of water, is estimated to cost ;^3)340»7oo- The third, fourth and fifth iron pipes, and three out of the five supply reservoirs included in the complete scheme, to be put down FUTURE WATER SUPPLY from time to time, as required by the in- creased demand for water, will, Second, third, , 1.^1 . r and fourth when completed, cost £2,314,253, supplies, making with the amount pre- £2,314,253. yiously expended ;^5,654,953. The Engineer of the Department, Mr. J. W. Gray, estimates that the extension of the reservoirs at Northfield and Warley for the supply of the high level districts, will cost ^86,250, and that ;^i95,ooo will, Additional 1 • ^1 . „j local durmg the next 10 years, and Reservoirs ^^480, GOO for the 40 years following, and mains, wanted for the extension of £761,250. • . T-u £ u mams, etc. These figures when added to the ;^5,654,953, shew that it will be necessary, in order to carry out the entire scheme, to borrow the sum of ^^6, 416, 203 ; but the Committee, feeling that they ought to have a margin to enable them to become owners of the watershed, and thus prevent Total Cost, possibility of future pollution, including have recommended that the bor- the purchase powers in the bill to be of the , 1- , 1 J Watershed, Submitted to Parliament should £6,600,000. stand at ^^6,600,000. The follow- ing summary shows how the Engineers make up this amount. OF BIRMINGHAM. 45 PROPOSED WATER SUPPLY FROM THE RIVERS ELAN AND CLAERWEN. Summary of Approximate Estimate supplied to Committee by Mr. Mansergh. Description of Work. For two lines of Pipes. For five lines of Pipes. I Railway . . 45,000 65,000 2 Reservoirs 634,000 1,265,000 3 Aqueduct 1,698,000 2,746,000 4 Service Reservoirs and Filters ^/9i-'25 328,062 5 Land for Reservoirs on Water- slied 120,000 200,000 6 Land for Aqueduct (easement) and for Frankley Reservoir and Filters . . 115,680 115,680 7 Mains to Monument Lane and City Boundary 113,072 243.258 2.904.977 4.963,000 Add 15% for Contingencies, &c. 435.723 Add 10% on /i, 050,000 (3rd, 4th, and 5th Mains . . 105,000 Add 15% on /a, 913, 000 586,953 Totals /3.340,7oo /5.654.953 For cost of additional works see next page. 45 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY Brought forward ;^5.654.953 To these figures our own Engineer, Mr. J. W. Gray, adds— For local reservoirs at Warley and North- field .. ^^^-^50 For the extension of Mains, etc.. in the district of supply, during the next 50 . . 675,000 y^^" 761.250 The Committee recommended the Council to add a covering sum for the purchase of the land on the watershed and other contmgencies ot .. •• 183,797 , , /6, 600, 000 Making a total of The Committee felt it incumbent upon them to lay before the Council the outline of a scheme showing how this vast expense might be met. It will of course be necessary to borrow the capital required. This, it is proposed to repay, with the interest upon it by annual instalments, as is being done in the cases of Manchester and Liverpool, which will in- volve the formation of a Sinking Fund. It has been pointed out that Expenditure outlay of capital will only be gradual, so that the ^6,6oo,ooo OF BIRMINGHAM. 47 need not all be borrowed at once. When complete the scheme will bring 60,000.000 gallons of water daily from the Welsh rivers Elan and Claerwen to Birmingham, in a conduit large enough for that purpose, and in five iron mains as aqueducts to cross the valleys. The whole of these, as has been previously stated, will not be required for 50 years. It is expected that two of these mains will be sufficient for our requirements until the years 1914 to igi8, when the third will be laid, whilst in 1925 the fourth is expected to be necessary, and the filth only after a lapse of 40 years. Similarly the reservoirs, as already stated, would not all be needed at once, but could be made as they are required. The expenditure, there- fore, being gradual, the item for interest and sinking fund would not be so heavy at first. But even assuming that the whole scheme is completed in 1914, it is thought that without any excessive burden the expense may be fully met. The Manchester Corporation Waterworks Act, 1879, provided that the repayment of 48 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY capital expended on the new works should be deferred for lo years from the date of their commencement, and that 60 years beyond that time was to be allowed for paying off the money borrowed for the completion of their scheme. If this precedent be followed, no payment from the Sinking Fund will be required till iqo3, from which year an annual instalment will be paid commencing in 1903 with /22,i89, and, gradually increasing until 1940, when the yearly payments Sinking ^iii be ;^38,994- These figures are based upon the capital bemg expended at the rate contemplated, and as shown in the table prepared by the Engineer. In these calculations we reckon upon a steady growth of the income derived from water-rents, consequent on the increase of the population and industries of the district, a growth which at one period, possibly during the time when so many insanitary wells were being closed, ranged for several years from 6 to 8 %, and if it be maintained at its recent rate will amount to 3 % P^^ ( OF BIRMINGHAM. 49 annum, but, to be on the safe side, Mr. Mansergh calculates the increase as follows : — From 1 89 1 to 1900 inclusive, an increase of 3 % „ 1901 „ 1910 „ „ 2f% „ 1911 „ 1920 „ „ 2^% „ 1921 „ 1930 „ „ 2i% .. 1931 .. 1940 ,,2% As soon as the new works shall have provided the necessary sup- Pumjfng" ply of water by gravitation, the Engineer estimates that ^20,000 a year in the present cost of pumping will be saved. Since 1876, when the Corporation took over the Waterworks, reductions in the water-rates have been made in the years 1881, 1883 and 1884, resulting in an annual saving to the consumers, which in i8gi was at the rate of ^^33,000 a year. When Mr. Gray, our Engineer, presented the report to the Water Commtttee, referred to on page 7, he suggested that if a portion I 50 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY of this reduction were re-imposed, it would, with the saving effected by the Reductions distribution of the water supply by Re-imposed. ^^^^-^^^-^^^ ^e sufQcient to provide the annual charges for sinking fund and interest on the capital required for the great Welsh scheme without any addition to the rates. Messrs. Howard Smith, Slocombe and Co., the accountants to the department, then prepared tables showing {a) the yearly income and expenditure, under various heads, since the Corporation acquired the water undertaking, and (6) the estimated income and expenditure for the next 25 years, based on the experience of the past, with certain modifications, from which it appeared that if Mr. Gray's suggestions were adopted there would be sufficient income to provide the annual charge on the capital required. The information supplied by the accountants has been used by Mr. Mansergh in the preparation of his table, of which there is an abstract on page 58. It is estimated that the ends sought by this proposal would be gained by an addition OF BIRMINGHAM. 51 of ^28,000 to the rental. This re-imposition will still leave the consumers in possession of better terms for their water supply than they obtained from the Company before the Corporation took over the works, and in view of the advantages to be gained, it is thought nobody will grudge it for a few years. The yearly surpluses thus secured, will, in 1902, have accumulated to ^81,613, so that in 1903, when the first repayment must be made, the amount of these sur- pluses accumulated during the previous ten years, will be available for this purpose. The calculations made by Mr. Mansergh show that if the consumers are willing to submit to this slight increase for a time, in 1914 there will be a Expenditure surplus on revenue account of ^13,290, which will so increase year by year, that by 191 8 the rate may again be reduced. It will be seen that in 1901 and 1902, when the Welsh water may be expected to be delivered, the saving in the cost of pumping takes effect, but in 1903 the pay- 52 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY ments of the Sinking Fund have to be brought into the account. These figures serve to illustrate how a scheme costing over /6,ooo,ooo may be dealt with, and how the city may be suppHed with pure water from the distant watershed in Wales, without the imposition of a special rate, the only burden being the temporary recall of a portion of the reductions previously made by the Corporation. It may even be shown that this project would cost but little more in the end, even at the sacrifice of the whole of the existing works, than it would, if the supply were raised from local sources, suppos- The Schemes ing that to be possible. For the Financially g making a financial Compared. ^ . , i.u <- comparison, let us assume that sufficient water could be obtained from the Bourne and Blythe, and from deep wells, to bring up the present supply to 60 million gallons a day. In comparing the two schemes, establishment charges and the interest and Sinking Fund on the present works may be omitted, as they would neces- OF BIRMINGHAM, 53 sarily be the same in both cases, unless in course of time the reservoirs, engines, etc., now in use were sold, which would be to the advantage of the Welsh scheme. Mr. Gray, the Engineer, calculates that he could obtain an additional supply from the river Bourne and from the Witton streams, at a cost of ^1,000,000. He further states that since the yield of each of our deep wells averages million gallons a day, 25 of such wells, in addition to the works costing ^1,000,000, would be needed to make up the quantity of water required in 60 years, assuming that the supply from the new wells was equal to the yield of those we have at present. The capital charges for these extensions he estimates as follows : — For Impounding the Bourne and Witton Streams, /i, 000,000 25 Deep Wells, including mains for delivering the Water, Engines, &c. £/^^,ooo each . . 1,125,000 Total . . . . /2, 125,000 54 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY The additional annual charges for these would in round numbers be as follows For Interest and Sinking Fund at 3 % on /76,784 ^2,125,000 Xi/ ' -f On ;f 761,250 ditto made up as follows— Reservoirs— Northfield and Warley .. £86,250 Extension of mains and improvement of the present supply during the next ten years ^95.000 Ditto during the following forty years . . 480.000 ^761,250 27,506 Cost of Pumping the additional supply of Bourne Water 11,000 Cost of Pumping the Water from the 25 additional Deep Wells at ;^i,500 each 37.500 Annual Charges .. •• £15^.79° Now let us compare this with the Welsh scheme : — Assuming the cost to be ;f6,6oo.ooo, the Annual Charges for Interest and Sinking Fund would be, at 3% • • £^3^.474 Deduct the saving from Pumping, as the Water would flow to Birmingham by 20,000 gravitation Annual Charges .. •• £218^7^ That is, the local scheme, with all its un- certainties as to supply, would involve an OF BIRMINGHAM. 55 annual cost of ;f 152, 790 for 60 million gallons of an inferior quality of water, as against 18,474 for bringing an almost un- limited quantity of pure water from Wales. It must be remembered, moreover, that in the local scheme there would, by the time the 60 million gallons a day were pumped, be a greatly increased annual outlay for pumping, which, as be- fore stated, has been estimated at Heavy Perpetual ;^64,ooo a year ; this would be a charges, perpetual charge ; but if the Welsh scheme were adopted, the annual cost of pumping would be reduced to ^^5,000, and taking the sum of ^^6, 600,000 as the cost of the scheme, then by 1914, i.e., 23 years hence, if the five-sixths of the former reduc- tions in the water-rate had been in the meantime re-imposed, there would, in that year, be a surplus of over 3,000, which surplus would increase year by year as more water was required. By means of these surpluses the water-rate might be reduced, and by the year 2000 the whole capital paid off, and the Corporation become 56 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY possessors of a large estate, yielding a per- petual and abundant supply of pure water for the inhabitants of this great city and district. The ^6,600,000 is the sum named in the Water Bill. This largely exceeds the /4,ooo,ooo mentioned when the scheme was first submitted to the Council, but at that time, as then stated, no detailed survey had been made, whereas now the figures are based on careful estimates to cover the capital expenditure for 50 years. The Water Committee, after receiving the Engineers' report and estimates, gave the matter their further serious considera- tion, with the result that they were fully convinced of the wisdom of adopting the scheme, and, by an unanimous vote, recom- mended its adoption by the Council. The Council, at its meeting on October 13th, 1891, approved the Committee's report, and authorised them to take all necessary steps for the promotion of the THE FUTURE WATER SUPPLY OF BIRMINGHAM, BY THOS. BARCLAY. BIRMIIMGMAM CORPORATION WATER. Total annual Balance for Year. Reimposed YEAR ending March 3 Probable [ Daily Demand I. for Water- Anticipatec increase of Water Consumers Water Rents Natural Growth. m m n o54 318,416 320,951 324,803 328,686 336,050 10,388 12,127 9,031 5.809 5.908 59.558 60,889 48,762 16,537 65,299 56,268 50,459 44,551 1926 JQ27 1928 1929 1930 j 39,091,000 ?q, 071, 000 40,870,000 41,790,000 42,730,000 2\ per cent. 2\ percent. 2.\ percent. 2\ percent. 2\ percent. 337.570 345.166 352,932 360,873 368,992 5.000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5.000 64,311 65.758 67,238 68,750 70,297 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 149,81 1 151.258 152,738 154.250 155,797 320,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 5,564,000 5,574,000 5,584,000 5,594,000 5,604,000 162,120 167,070 167,370 167,670 167,970 36,674 38.637 38.698 38,759 30,020 198,794 205,707 206,068 206,429 206,790 348.605 356,965 358,806 360,679 362,587 194 6,405 11.035 11.799 5.874 I . — . 33.516 21,717 15.843 16,037 I93I 1 1932 1933 1934 1935 43,691,000 44,565,000 45.456,000 46,365,000 47,293,000 2 per cent. 2 per cent. 2 per cent. 2 per cent. 2 per cent. 377.294 384,841 392.538 400,388 408,396 5.000 5,000 5,000 5.000 5,000 71,879 73,316 74.783 76.278 77.804 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 157,379 158,816 160,283 161,778 163,304 10,000 11,000 1 1,000 11,000 1 1,000 5,614,000 5,625,000 5,636,000 5,647,000 5,658,000 168,270 168,585 168,915 169,245 169,575 38,882 38.943 39,010 39,078. 39,145 207,152 207,528 207,925 208,323 208,720 364.531 366,344 368,208 370,101 372,024^ 12,763 18,497 24.330 30,287 36,372 1 \ 1936 1937 1938 1939 _ ^94° ^ 48,239,000 49,203,000 50,187,000 51,191,000 52,2X5,000 2 per cent. 2 per cent. 2 per cent. 2 per cent. 2 per cent. 416,564 424,895 433.393 442,061 450,902 5,000 5.000 5,000 5,000 O.ouo 79.360 80,947 82,566 84,218 85,902 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 164,860 166,447 168,066 169,718 171,402 60,000 60,000 60,000 296,000 300,000 5,718,000 5,778,000 5,838,000 6,134,000 6,434,000 170,640 172,440 174,240 179.580 188,520 39.213 39.581 39.949 40.317 42.132 209,853 212,021 214,189 219.897 230,652 374.713 378,468 382,255 389,615 402,054 41,851 46,427 51.138 52.446 48,848 y Surpluses equivalent to 10% reduction on present charges. 1941 1942 1943 i 1944 1945 53,259,000 54,191,000 55,140,000 56,105,000 57,086,000 if percent, if percent, if percent, if per cent, if percent. 459,920 467,969 476,158 484,491 492,970 5,000 5.000 5,000 5,000 5,000 87,620 89,153 90,714 92,301 93,916 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 173,120 174.653 176,214 177,801 I7Q,4l6 11,000 1 1,000 1 1 ,000 1 1 ,000 1 1 ,000 6,445,000 6,456,000 6,467,000 6,478,000 6 '1 8n ono 193,185 193.515 193.845 194.175 43.972 44.039 44,107 44.174 237.157 237.554 237.952 238.349 2^8,74.7 410.277 412,207 414,166 416,150 418,163 55.762 61,992 68,341 74,807 \ 1946 1947 i94'5 1949 1950 58,085,000 59,102,000 60, 1 36,000 61,189,000 62,260,000 if percent, if percent. 1 -J- per ceni. if per cent, if percent. 501,596 510,374 519,300 528,394 537,641 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 95.560 97.232 98.934 100,665 _j02^427_ 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 181,060 182,732 184,434 186,165 187,927 1 1,000 1 1,000 1 1,000 1 1,000 1 1 ,000 6,500,000 6,51 1,000 6,522,000 6,533,000 6,544,000 194.835 195.165 195.495 195,825 196,155 44.310 44.377 44.445 44.512 44,580 239,145 239,542 239,940 240.337 240.735 420,205 422,274 424.374 426,502 428,662 81,391 88,100 94.932 101,892 108,979 y Surpluses equivalent to 20% reduction on present charges. 1 95 1 1952 1953 1954 1955 63.349.000 64,299,000 65,264,000 66,243,000 67,236,000 i\ percent. \\ percent. i\ percent. i\ percent. i\ per cent. 547.049 555.255 563,584 572,038 580,619 5,000 5,000 1 5,000 5.000 5,000 ^104^219^ 105,783 107,369 108,980 110,619 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 80,500 189,719 191,283 192,869 194,480 196,119 1 1 ,000 II, 000 11,000 1 1 ,000 12,000 6,555,000 6,566,000 6,577,000 6,588,000 6,600,000 196,485 196,815 197.145 197.475 197,820 44,647 44,618 44,502 43,682 42,641 241,132 241.433 241,647 241.157 240,461 430,851 432.716 434.516 435.637 436,580 1 16,198 122,539 129,068 136,401 144.039 / OF BIRMINGHAM. 57 Bill in Parliament, and to enter into pro- visional agreements for the purchase of land, and for the employment of the necessary- professional assistance. On Nov. 25th the Council approved the statutory T~.-ii 1 1-11 Town's Water Bill, and authorised the Meeting. Committee to proceed with the same, and to submit it to a statutory meet- ing of the ratepayers, in the Town Hall, on Saturday, December 5th, 1891, at 2 o'clock. This meeting was duly held, and the resolution authorising the Council to pro- ceed with the Bill was carried with practical unanimity, less than one dozen hands being held up against it; '^X" but it being within the right of one ratepayer to demand a poll of the bur- gesses, this was called for, and the poll took place on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the 7th, 8th, and gth December, iSgi, with the result that there were 7,837 votes for the resolution, and 997 against it. These votes were given by 4,016 Rate- payers for, and 563 against. • 58 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY The Financial Table* given here is pre- pared trom figures supplied to the Water Committee by Mr. Mansergh, and is in- tended to illustrate the financial changes which are expected to come into opera- tion as the scheme advances. In Financial column 2 is shown the probable Scheme. demand for water, m column 3 will be seen the anticipated increase of water consumers, while column 4 gives the income from rates estimated to increase according to the previous column. In column 5 it will be seen that, in 1902, when the first instalment of the Rhayader water is delivered, the pumping charges will be greatly reduced, and in 1903 and subsequent years they will have reached a minimum, as the amount standing in the table trom that date onward represents the estimated charges for pumping the Rhayader water to the Warley Reservoir for the supply of the high parts of the town. Column 10 shows how the capital outlay is gradually * The figures in the Table were those used in the Parliamentary Committee. OF BIRMINGHAM. 59 expended. In column 11 the figures for each year represent the charges tor interest at 3 % on two amounts added together — the one being the capital expended at the end of the previous year, and the other being half the capital outlay of the current year. In column 12 it will be seen that in 1903 the sinking fund comes into operation. Column 13 represents the total charges, and is the sum of the two preceding columns, which in each case will be sufficient to redeem the principal in 60 years from the date of borrowing ; so ^'^craduai" that the annual payments for re- demption of capital will gradually lessen towards the end, in the same proportion as they will increase during the early and middle stages of the undertaking. Column 17 shows that the re-imposed charges take effect in 1893, and how the amount will grow year by year as new customers for water are added. It is interesting to notice that in the year 1922 this item disappears, and in the following year the rate may again be reduced. In columns 20 and 21 the accumulated balances are shown, and it 6o FUTURE WATER SUPPLY will be seen that the deficiency account ceases in 1920, while in 1921 there is a surplus. The payments to the sinking fund con- tinue for 60 years after the borrowing of each amount of capital, consequently it will probably be the year 2015 before the final payment is made ; but no rate in aid will be necessary. On the other hand, if it were possible to develope the local resources, there would, as previously stated, be a perpetual charge of ^^64,000 a year for pumping. OF BIRMINGHAM. 6i CHAPTER IV. ACTION OF MOORLAND WATER ON LEAD, ETC, We have seen that the Rhayader water can be brought to Birmingham in sufficient quantity by gravitation, and that its quality is excellent. It only remains to consider the question of its safe distribution to the consumers. From the analysis of the water, it will be seen that it is much softer than that now supplied to Birmingham, and, as it is known that all waters, especially soft moorland waters, exert a chemical action on lead, it was necessary for the Committee to determine, before recommending the scheme to the Council, whether this water might be safely supplied to the inhabitants for domestic use through leaden pipes. The knowledge that there have been numerous cases of lead-poisoning in other towns, due to the action of moorland waters on lead, caused the Committee to make a close investigation into the matter. For H <: w <: W H < G M <: S o Z < H >< J CO o o cu k; w > H fa O H w w o CO Q M m I a h ►J w X H O D O Pi w H Q t/3 <: < >< ►J < z o o w > H o u w w Bi H <: o > W M Pi W H h < z o >-) A < w 0. tn o I/] « H * SOLVENT ACTION ON LEAD. ^0 -"i" ro 00 rO HARDNESS. 00 *p 0> M ro "1 NITRATES. absent min. trace mere trace NITRITES. absent absent absent ALBUMINOID AMMONIA. 000616 0.0070 000448 AMMONIA. 00 0 *j n- g 0) 00 m 00 XI b b CHLORINE. m 0 ."p b b b SOLIDS. ro _ ro fo p N in *b Lake Vyrnwy . . Oswestry, after filter beds'! ^ (about 17 miles from -j Liverpool) . . • . j ' Prescot, Liverpool (68 V miles from Lake j Vyrnwy . . ••) ro «D u r ,11 visited, but it was abundantly justified by the result. The saving effected by these means is calculated to have amounted during the four years since the survey was made to 2*25 gallons per head OF BIRMINGHAM. 119 per day, representing aji annual saving of over 500 million gallons, and a consequent reduction in pumping charges. As a proof of the wisdom of the inspection, it was found that during the past five years, although the population had increased by 60,000 in the water area, there had been no increase in the total amount of water consumed. In the year ended March 31st, 1898, the average consumption per head per day was for Measured Trade Supplies, Road Water- ing, Markets, Railways, etc 5- 18 gallons. Unmeasured Trade Supplies estimated. . 4 04 Domestic Use. Fire and Waste . . . . I3'95 Making a total of 23 17 gall ions. It may here be mentioned that after the retirement of the late '^^^ngin^er."^ Mr. J. W. Gray, the Committee, recognising the fact that, pending the com- pletion of the Welsh scheme, the Engineer to the City Water Department should be one having large experience of the working of pumping machinery (this would be un- necessary after the Welsh water was brought to Birmingham), recommended the Council to appoint Mr. Henry Davey, M.I.C.E., FUTURE WATER SUPPLY of London, well known as a specialist in pumping engineering. The wisdom of this appointment has been abundantly manifested, for the follow- ing improvements with many others in the engineering department have been carried out under Mr. Davey's direction. At the Aston Pumping Station, where the supply of water for condensing has for a considerable time been largely supple- mented with filtered water, from half to three-quarter million gallons a day being thus permanently lost, an ingenious method has been devised whereby this water is now saved. Further, the reservoir at that place which has a capacity of thirty million gallons and which, for some years past, has only been used for storing water for feed and condensing purposes, is now available as a storage reservoir for the department. It was felt by the Committee, well aware though they were that any works which they might construct would be of a temporary character, and required during the interim OF BIRMINGHAM. 121 period only, that somethinsf further ^ . ° New supply. should be done to increase the The Perry supply. The late Mr. J. W. Gray, engineer to the department, for that purpose made a trial boring at Shustoke, going down 1 20 feet, but the result proving unsatis- factory, the project was abandoned. The Committee have, however, since that time, under the direction of the City Council, arranged for the acquisition of the pumping rights of the Perry Sinking, Perry Barr. This is a shaft which was sunk to a depth of 1,488 feet about 25 years ago, as a boring for coal, but afterwards abandoned. Here, fortunately, the quality of the water was found to be satisfactory, and a trial period of 18 months was allowed for erecting the plant and testing the quantity of water obtainable from the sinking. The works are now completed, but the quantity not having proved so great as was hoped, it is feared that there are no other local sources of supply on which the Corporation can draw, and the Water Department will find it very difficult to keep the population fully supplied during the four years still remaining before FUTURE WATER SUPPLY the Welsh supply can be brought to Bir- mingham. No more complete proof of the necessity for resorting to a distance for the . future water supply of Birmingham could possibly have been afforded than this inade- quacy of local resources. It is difiicult to imagine what the condition of the city would have been at the end of fifty years if the views of those who urged that a sufficiency could be obtained in the neigh- bourhood had prevailed. Then, again, the Committee, in order to increase the financial resources of the department, in view of the expenditure on the Welsh works, and, at the same time, to remove anomalies in the charges which had crept in during a long series of Adjustment years, decided to make a careful of Charges. J ' examination of the account ot each consumer. This having been done, after a fair adjustment, by which some rents were increased and others reduced, the Committee were able to increase their water revenue by the sum of j^6,ooo a year. OF BIRMINGHAM. Various economies have also been made in the engineering department. For example, the engine slack, required for the different stations, is now tested at Plant's Brook (each test being made with 25 tons of slack), with the result that a saving in coal has been effected, for it was proved that the steam-producing quality of coal did not always vary with the price. At the Aston Pumping Station important improvements have been carried out, by means of which there will not only be a considerable saving in fuel but additional pumping power will also ^^pue?. be provided, the maximum demand on the station will be met without a large expenditure of capital. When it is remem- bered that the bulk of the water obtained from the various local sources is brought to the Aston station to be pumped into the Monument Road Reservoir, and that any additional water, which may be utilised as a temporary supply, pending the arrival of the Welsh water, will also have to be pumped at Aston, the importance of these improvements will be understood. The 124 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY greatest care has, in fact, been exercised to maintain a supply of water equal to the demand. During the summer months, in dry sea- sons, great pressure has been put on the department, even to the extent of occasion- ally causing inconvenience to consumers. Special appeals have, therefore, had to be issued from time to time to prevent waste and excessive use, and although the consumers have co-operated with the Committee, the demand for water has at times far exceeded the daily supply. At such times the deficiency has been provided for out of the reserve storage in the reservoirs, and these have sometimes been drawn perilously low. Whilst, as already shown, the Committee have been cutting down their expenditure and increasing their revenue, it is most gratifying to learn that the increase of income has exceeded the forecast. As will be seen by a glance at the Financial Table facing page 58, the water-rents were expected to increase at the rate of 3 per cent, per OF BIRMINGHAM. 125 annum, until the year igoi, but the last report of the Committee, as presented to ' the Council, shows that the average rate of increase for the past four years is actually over 4 per cent., and it is even more satis- factory to learn that the figures last year came out at 6-oi, being thus more than double the estimated increase. This increase is no doubt exceptional, and is due to the extra demand for water required for manufacturing purposes, owing to better trade, and also to the great increase in the number of dwellmg houses, owing to the same cause; but, whatever the explanation, the fact remains the same. The estimated increase in water-rents, based upon previous experience, and set forth in the Table referred to, has during the years 1894-97, been exceeded by over ;^25,QOo, and the amount which it was esti- mated that the rental would reach in the year igoo has already been passed. In referring to the finances of the depart- ment it ought, however, to be stated that 126 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY the surplus from accumulated balances for the year ending March 31st, 1898, should according to the Table, column 20, be ^128,722, instead of which it stands on the Committee's report at ^^108,988. This discrepancy is more than accounted for by the fact that the scheme was a year late in coming into operation, so that the first item of ;^28,ooo for re-imposed charges (column 17), was not brought into the account. Other special causes, such as the occurrence of severe frost, have combined to prevent the growth of the accumulation. It must not be forgotten, however, that the income from rental (being the permanent income) is the most important factor m gauging the financial position of the under- taking. The report of the Committee Capital shows that the capital expended Expenditure. scheme to the end of the financial year 1898 is over ^600,000 less than was estimated, initial delays having interfered and rendered the progress of the work less rapid than was expected. The estimated figures were 960,000 (column OF BIRMINGHAM. 127 10), whilst the actual expenditure was 309,048. The Committee, while realising the im- portance of preventing waste, of increasing their interim supply of water, and further, of husbanding their finan- ^^^^^ . , - , Quality. cial resources to meet the charg-es due on the Welsh scheme, have not been unmindful of their responsibility in regard to the quality of the water. For some years past the Health Com- ' mittee, acting independently of the Water Committee, have at their discretion, taken samples of the Corporation water in different districts for analysis, and the Medical Officer of Health has in due course reported on them. This independent check has been of great value, but the bacteriological TT , , . Examination. Health Committee, m face probably of the Maidstone epidemic, are taking additional precautions, and have arranged for Professor Frankland, of Mason College, to make a report to them on samples of water taken monthly for bacteriological examination from each of the three zones of supply. 128 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY The Committee will have, in addition to these bacteriological examinations by Professor Frankland, the customary chemical reports of Dr. Hill. The Committee, with a view to testing the efficiency of the filter beds, have also made arrangements for a bacteriological examination, by Professor Frankland, of the water before and after filtration, at each of the stations. In addition to which the Water Com- mittee, in order to protect the sources of supply, is co-operating with the Health Committee, to secure early notification of any cases of typhoid fever which may occur in any of the districts constituting the gathering grounds of the streams contribut- ing to the supply, so that, if necessary, action could at once be taken to protect the streams from any pollution liable to render the water dangerous to the health of the city and district. OF BIRMINGHAM. 129 CHAPTER VIII. The scheme commenced — engagement of Mr. MaNSERGH and staff PLAN OF OPERATIONS CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST RAILWAY — Mr. LeES' account OF THE NAVVY VILLAGE. The Royal assent to the Birmingham Corporation Water Act was obtained on June 27th, 1892, and on October Mr. Mansergh - r ^1 1 ^- appointed. 3 1st of the same year the City Council formally instructed Mr. James Mansergh to prepare plans, etc., and to proceed with the work. Before any part of the work was begun however, a most important question had to be settled by the Committee and the Council, viz., whether the whole or any part of the works should be undertaken by the Corporation, they employing the necessary labour, or whether the whole should be let by tender to contractors in the ordinary way. Mr. Mansergh, the engineer, strongly urged that the reservoirs should be con- I30 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY structed by the Corporation without the intervention of any contractor, and the Committee wisely resolved to act SioTof upon his recommendation. The the Committee, ^g^isons given for their decision were set forth as follows : — " Your Committee felt that it was essen- tial that these dams should be constructed in the way that would best secure their being absolutely safe and water-tight, and in view of the immense responsibility, both legally and morally, resting on the Corpora- tion with respect to these works, considered that the question of safety was of primary importance." This decision applied only to the dams, and the works connected therewith on the watershed. All the other work, including the railway to the watershed, and the aqueduct, were to be carried out by con- tractors under the direction of the engineer. Mr.G. N. Yourdi,M.I.C.E.,who Mr.Yourd ^13,6. served under Mr. Mansergh appointed. , 1 • in similar undertakmgs, was en- gaged as resident engineer, and other OF BIRMINGHAM. 131 members of the staff were duly appointed. The former entered on his duties in June, 1893. The old manor house at Nant Gwillt was put in repair as a residence for Mr. Yourdi ; and accommodation was here also provided for the Water Committee and certain Birmingham officials when they require to visit the works. Cwm Elan, the only other house of any importance on the watershed, is similarly utilised to provide accommodation for mem- bers of the engineering staff. The work first to be done in connection with the scheme was 1?^,"''^* Railway. the construction of the railway connecting the mid- Wales section of the Cambrian system with the Elan Valley for the conveyance of plant and materials. This was let by contract to Mr. Henry Lovatt of Wolverhampton, the well-known contractor, to whom the order was given on the i6th August, 1893. The main portion of this line of railway, which is some two and two- thirds miles in length, runs parallel with the 132 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY existing public highway, and the latter being intersected, had to be diverted in places. The railway was completed in July, 1894, As soon as the line was open and the material could be brought to the site, active operations were at once commenced in connection both with the navvy village settlement on the Brecon side of the valley, and with the shops site and clerical staff houses on the Radnor side. By the experience gained in the construc- tion of this railway, the inconvenience of having workmen employed by both con- tractors and by the Corporation on the ground together was demonstrated. The Corporation, therefore, decided that in future they themselves would carry out all the remaining work on the watershed by their own workmen. A difficulty which the Corporation ^Vinag7^ had to encounter at the outset was providing accommodation for such a multitude of workers in a wild moun- tainous region far away from any town. OF BIRMINGHAM. 133 It is therefore greatly to the credit of the Committee that they have in so admirable a manner carried out this part of the scheme, for to provide accommodation for a popula- tion of over one thousand, the greater pro- portion able-bodied workmen, is obviously no easy task. The settlement designed by the Committee may be regarded as a model village, and should serve as an example to other public bodies of the provision which a high-minded and intelligent Corporation, engaged in the construction of important works, regards as its duty to provide for the workmen and their families placed under its charge. Thinking that a full account of the organization of the settlement would prove of much interest, I am indebted to Mr. E. Antony Lees, the able Secretary of the Water Department, for the following graphic description of the village. This description, with the exception of that portion relating to the canteen, formed part of a most useful and instructive lecture on the Welsh Water Scheme which Mr. Lees 134 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY has delivered before several Birmingham audiences, notably at the Grand Hotel, Birmingham, under the auspices of the Central Literary Association, and which was attended by, amongst others, the Chairman of the Water Committee, Mr. Alderman Lawley Parker, J.P., and other members of the City Council. The statistics and much useful infor- mation respecting the canteen are taken from the evidence given by Mr. Lees on July 5th, 1898, before the Royal Commis- sion at Westminster on Liquor Licensing Laws, Viscount Peel in the chair. " The village is situate on a fairly Mr. Lees j^^gj pig^e of land, running along description. ^.^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ -^^^ below the site of the Caban Coch dam, being bounded on the north by the river and on the south by the abrupt mountain side. On the opposite side the rocks rise in a series of bold crags to a height of about 800 feet above the river, along the left bank of which runs the road from Rhayader. The village is thus on the opposite side of OF BIRMINGHAM. 135 the river to the road, and access is given to it by a suspension bridge constructed by the Corporation. The position of the village in that it has to be approached by this bridge, and that it is erected on private ground to which there is no public right of way, is fortunate, inasmuch as the Cor- poration have thereby the means of exercis- ing a beneficent supervision which would be impossible were the village in the ordinary sense of the word a ' public place.' Nor is the supervision of the Corporation merely nominal ; no strangers are allowed in the village without permission. Every tradesman who wishes to deliver goods is required to furnish him- Rjgi^iat"on. self with a pass on which some- what stringent regulations are laid down. For instance, the owner undertakes that he will not deliver any intoxicating drinks within the Elan village, and the Sunday quiet and rest of the inhabitants are protected by a regulation that, with the exception of milk, no goods shall be delivered or sold on that day ; and these regulations are not a dead letter, for at the 136 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY end of the bridge, on the village side, a gate is situate at which the bridge-keeper, who is constantly in attendance, examines the contents of every cart before it is per- mitted to proceed. All the erections in the village are constructed of wood, the only brick or stone in the houses being the hearth and seatipgs for the grates and the chimney flues. Externally the buildings are weather- boarded and internally match- ops and boarded, the space between being Huts. r , 1 r lined with coarse felt ; the roots are covered also with felt over the boards, and the whole is then tarred, and the roofs thoroughly sanded in addition. The village has a complete system of sewerage, scaveng- ing, public lighting and water supply. Fire hydrants are fixed on the water mains, and fire extinguishing appliances are provided at convenient points. In the middle of the village there is a small fire station surmounted by a fire bell. This is the rendezvous of the fire brigade, some members of which are on duty every evening. The village is perambulated throughout the night by two watchmen ; all of the huts, moreover, are inspected weekly OF BIRMINGHAM. 137 by the village superintendent, with a view to the removal of all refuse and the prevention of the use of oil lamps of dangerous type, and of any other articles likely to occasion an outbreak of fire. The police arrangements are carried out by the county constabulary of Brecon as regards the village, and by the Radnorshire police as regards the works generally. A police station has been erected on the Radnorshire side." " The huts are of four classes : the first is the ordinary lodgers' hut. This provides accommodation at one end for the hut- keeper, his wife and family, and at the other end for eight lodgers, each of whom is provided with a separate cubicle or sleeping room. Midway between the two ends of the hut the common living-room is placed." The second class of huts is for gangers. These are constructed for the overseers and gangers of the workmen, and accommodate only the man and his family, lodgers being permitted in these huts only under excep- tional circumstances, and by special permit of the resident engineer." 138 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY " The third type of huts is for officials. In these the accommodation is somewhat more extensive. In the village itself there are two huts of this type, one of which is occupied by the missioner and the other by the schoolmaster. Most of the houses for officials are erected adjoining the chief offices, and together form a separate and picturesque group." " The huts of the fourth type comprise only three rooms each, and aff"ord accom- modation for married workmen." " In speaking of the huts of the second type for the gangers, it may be well to state what is the organization of an army of navvies. The unit of organization is not the individual man, but a band of men called a gang, over whom is a ganger. The general custom on public works has been for the gangers to be also hut-keepers, that is to say, the ganger's wife has been the landlady of a hut capable of accommodating a number of lodgers. In many cases she has been his banker and general provider, and as the ganger himself has the power of picking out men to be discharged, on account of slackness of work 1 OF BIRMINGHAM. 139 or other reasons, it is easy to see (without any wide condemnation of a generally worthy class of men) how, under such con- ditions, a ganger seeking his own interests is able to exercise considerable tyranny over men in his gang who are at the same time his lodgers. In view of this, the Water Committee determined at the beginning that no ganger should be permitted to take lodgers, and this regulation is regarded, by persons having a wide acquaintance with navvy life, as a regulation of a most benefi- cent character, and calculated in itself to give the ordinary nawy a degree of freedom impossible under the usual circumstances." " The public institutions of the village comprise the school and mission-room, the public hall, the hospital, the canteen, the bath-house, and (not in the village, but adjoining) the doss house and the infectious diseases hospital." " The school and mission-room (in which the day school is held on week days, and school and service are conducted on Sundays) first deserves notice. Mission Room. The village day school is placed FUTURE WATER SUPPLY under the Education Department, the school managers being the Chairman of the Water Committee, with three officials, two of whom are resident at the works, and one in Birmingham. The buildings are certified by the department as sufficient for the accommodation of i68 scholars. At first considerable difficulty was experienced in bringing the navvy children under the discipline of regular instruction, but now good progress is being made, and, at the last examination by the Government Inspec- tor, the general school earned the possible grant." Mr. Lees says, " I wish that the ratepayers could have been present at a public meeting of parents and friends recently held in the public room, at which I was present and distributed the prizes, and after which a concert and entertainment was given by the scholars to a crowded and appreciative audience of their parents and friends. A peep at that gathering would convey, as no words could do, the truly beneficent work being carried on by the Corporation in providing for the education and the social OF BIRMINGHAM. 141 and moral advancement of the little com- munity collected under its aegis in this remote valley of Wales. The most important item in the programme which had been provided by the schoolmaster was a negro entertain- ment by a body of youngsters, dubbed the Elan Snowflakes, and the effect produced was most grotesque when, after the perform- ance, many of the aforesaid Snowflakes, in a still unwashed condition, presented them- selves to carry off the honours of the evening in the shape of well-earned prizes for effici- ency in school work. Some of the work I saw in the Elan school was such that it is worthy of being placed side by side with some of the work in the Birmingham Board Schools; the girls' needlework, and the boys' drawing, alike manifested the diligence and application of the scholars and assiduity of the teachers." " The public hall and recreation room are open every evening, and "^^Room'" on wet days in the daytime also. Here are provided daily and weekly news- papers, a free lending library, replenished 142 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY from time to time to time by the overflow of the Birmingham Free Libraries, and by gifts of books from interested friends. In this room, on Sunday afternoons, the mis- sioner conducts a writing class in which the men are helped and encouraged to write to their friends ; and, when it is remembered that most of the men are in lodgings, and of necessity living far from home, the fore- thought of this arrangement will be appreci- ated. The navvy leads a peculiarly roving life a very large proportion of the class being quite cut off from their friends— and there have already been several cases of death in the community, where the men have been entirely unknown, and have been laid to rest without the knowledge of any of their relatives. All navvies have nick- names, and many pass under assumed names, so that to trace the relatives or friends of the men is often quite impossible." "In the public hall concerts and enter- tainments of various kinds are frequently held, generally by local effort, in aid of various charitable objects, but sometimes OF BIRMINGHAM. 143 travelling companies and entertainers visit the village and enliven the monotony. Here, too, is a well-furnished gymnasium where the missioner acts as instructor to squads of ' nippers ' and young men. There are also two good bagatelle tables which are well patronised." " A hospital for the treatment of accidents is, unfortunately, a necessary adjunct to every public works. It may be said that 203 in-patients and 1,320 out-patients were treated from October, 1894, when it was opened, to November, 1897. Most of the cases arise through the men either falling on the rocks, or through rocks falling on them. Injuries to the eye are also frequent in the masons' yard. Occasionally an acci- dent occurs through the careless use of explosives, and there have in addition been two or three deaths through men being crushed on the railways, so that, in the construction of the works, the Corporation has already had to pay a certain toll in human life. The hospital contains three wards, and affords accommodation for 18 144 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY patients. Usually only one ward is occupied, though there have been occasions when three wards have been in use at the same time. As the village is situate three miles from Rhayader, and there was no doctor nearer, a doctor is regularly resident in the hospital, and he attends to the ordinary cases of sickness in the village. The works extend for about seven miles above the village, and in cases of accidents happening at the more distant works, the injured men have to be conveyed long distances, and, as a precau- tion, tourniquets to arrest bleeding are available at various points, as are also stretchers for carrying the injured. The infectious diseases hospital is outside the village. During the severe epidemic of small- pox in the West of England and South Wales , in the year 1896, notwithstanding the large number of tramps coming to the works, the village was fortunately preserved from any outbreak of smallpox, and it is only reason- able to suppose that the precautions taken prevented what would, under the special circumstances of the place, have proved a dire disaster." The Dosshmisi.' .Iiiiictliiii, April IWKS. Elan VillajSc Hospital, Main Ward, Feb. 1897. OF BIRMINGHAM. 145 " The doss house is not, strictly , . . , , .„ . . Doss House speaking, in the village, as it is situate on the opposite or Radnorshire side of the river. The doss house serves a double purpose. It is first a kind of work- ing-man's hotel, or model lodging house, and second, a quarantine. It affords ac- commodation for thirty-six lodgers, and the charge is 4d. per night for bed, attend- ance and use of common fire. The doss house keeper is permitted to sell provisions at fixed rates, and the navvies, who are excellent cooks, prepare for themselves the provisions they bring with them, or purchase at the time. The need of accommodation for working men will be evident when it is remembered that the works are some miles distant from any town, and that consequently men on tramp arriving of an evening require accommodation before they are able to apply for work on the following day. It is further very desirable that new arrivals should not be permitted to sleep in the village until they have been cleansed and kept under medical observation for a few days ; consequently all men who are engaged 146 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY are required to spend their first week in the doss house. All who are not engaged are allowed to remain one night only. Every man applying for admission is required to take a good hot bath. In the meantime all his belongings are passed through a disintector. In times of epidemic, such as the small- pox of last summer, the doctor, moreover, examines every arrival, and any suspicious cases are at once isolated in the infectious hospital." The arrangements in connection with the doss house required a good deal of careful planning, and in this connection the experience of the Salvation Army with their London doss houses was taken advantage of, and the advice cheerfully given to Mr. Lees by Mr. Bramwell Booth was, in certain particulars, of great value. " The doss house fulfils a most useful, and indeed necessary function in connection with the social economy of the works. It is self- supporting, the men appreciate its privileges, and often, when their week is up, wish to remain on, but of course cannot be permitted. In very few cases do they object to the OF BIRMINGHAM. H7 bath, although many of them express them- selves in a peculiar way concerning it and the disinfector. of " The question of the supply of intoxicating drinks was, from the supply first, felt to be one of grave im- intoxicating portance, not only from a moral point of view, but as touching the material interests of the Corporation, it being felt that if unrestricted facilities for obtaining drink were permitted, the probable result would be considerable loss of time by the men, and consequent disorganisation of the work." " Before the commencement of the works, namely, in the autumn of 1892, a license was granted by the Radnorshire magistrates to a farmer in the district, for the establishment of a public house in the neighbourhood of the works. The Corporation being of opinion that it was very undesirable that licensed premises should be established in the neigh- bourhood of the works but beyond the control of the Corporation, asked to be heard in opposition to the granting of this license, 148 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY but the magistrates declined to hear the Corporation and granted the license. The public house in question, known as the Elan Valley Hotel, is still in existence, and in October of the year 1895 a foot-bridge on private ground was erected by the owner of the public house, giving additional facilities for communication between the Corporation village and the public house in question. The distance from the middle of the village to the Elan Valley Hotel via the suspension bridge is one mile, and via the footbridge 1,500 yards; from the end of the village nearest the suspension bridge 1,520 yards, and from the end of the village nearest the footbridge via the footbridge 970 yards." "To the canteen a special interest le Canteen, ^^^^^j^^g^ it is an experiment embodying some of the suggestions thrown out for the regulation of the liquor traffic. In point of fact the canteen is a municipal public house, and is believed to be the only instance of the kind in the United Kingdom. On the question of the drink traffic there were the three proverbial courses open to the OF BIRMINGHAM. 149 Water Committee : first, to do nothing, and allow any enterprising publicans who could obtain licenses to set up their establishments and conduct their trade in the usual manner ; second, to attempt to prohibit the traffic altogether ; third, to undertake the provision of beer for the use of the community, but under such regulations as should render it least hurtful." " The objection to the first course is obvious. The navvies, in common with many others, readily yield to temptation to drink when they have the means of gratifying the appetite, and during the sum- mer months, when regularity in the gangs is of the utmost importance, and at the same time when earnings are highest, there would be the greatest likelihood of the de- morahsing and disastrous effects of drunken- ness asserting themselves." " To the second course the objection was none the less marked. The people, rightly or wrongly, will have their beer, and without facilities to obtain it in a legitimate manner, they would decline the place altogether, or I50 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY resort to illicit means to supply themselves. It was held, therefore, to be impolitic to attempt prohibition." " The third alternative course then was adopted, viz., to provide beer under stringent regulations. Application was accordmgly made for a license, the Corporation submit- ting to the magistrates a scheme for the establishment of a house for the sale of beer in the village, which scheme, after consider- able discussion, was finally settled, and the common seal of the Corporation was affixed to a copy of the conditions agreed to, which copy was lodged with the Magistrates' Clerk. The magistrates thereupon granted the license, which has since been renewed on the understanding that the canteen shall be conducted substantially on the rules that have been made, although the license itself is not limited, and the observance of the regulations is a matter of honour on the part of the Corporation. The canteen is placed in charge of a manager, in whose name the license stands ; the manager has no interest whatever in the sale of the drink. OF BIRMINGHAM. His salary is fixed, and is sufficiently liberal to command the services of a thoroughly reliable and respectable man. The canteen keeper lives on the premises rent free, and out of his wage has to pay his own barman, also for the cleaning of the house, drinking vessels, etc. All the goods for sale at the canteen are ordered by the Secretary of the Water Department on requisitions from the canteen- keeper, who does not know what is paid for anything, as all the goods are charged to him at selling prices. Stock is taken every week, and the canteen-keeper has to account either in cash or stock for the goods supplied and brought forward. The goods sold are limited to beer and porter on draught and in bottle, aerated waters, tobacco and cigars. The points against which he must guard himself are incivility towards customers on the part of himself or his assistants, lack of cleanliness in the house and drinking vessels, adulteration of the liquors, selling out of hours, and disorder and drunkenness on the part of his customers. If he is able to avoid offence in any of these respects, he is thought no worse of if the 152 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY takings fall off, and no better of if they increase. To promote the objects in view, stringent regulations have been enacted, which are not merely printed and hung on the walls, but are actually enforced. The sale of drink is refused to men who show signs of having had enough, or who have already been supplied up to the stipulated limit." * ' There are 1 20 to 1 50 women in the settle- ment, and none of these are allowed to enter the ordinary bar, although they can obtain in the jug department liquor for Calteen consumption off the premises. No Regulations. young fellow under 18 is served in the bar, and in the jug department no boy under 16, and no woman under 21 is served. One of the rules of the establishment is that no person shall be supplied with more than one quart of liquor in the morning opening, and with not more than two quarts of beer or porter for consumption in one evening. No hut-keepers are supplied with more than I J gallons of beer in any one evening, nor with more than two gallons for the mid-day meal from the jug department, except on OF BIRMINGHAM. 153 Saturday evening, when a hut-keeper may purchase double the quantity. The canteen is open between the hours of 12 noon and 2 p.m. for I J hours only, and from 5-30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on all week days save Saturday, when it is open from i p.m. to 4-30 p.m., and from 5-30 p.m. till 9-30 p.m. Formerly it was kept open continuously from i p.m. till 9 p.m. on Saturday; but it was found that an interval of closing corrected a tendency which some men displayed to remain upon the premises during the whole of the time. On Sundays the house is closed all day. There is considerable difficulty in regulating the quantity of liquor to be allowed to any person in the evening. In the rush of business it is impossible to keep a strict account of the quantity of drink supplied to any individual customer. In practice, how- ever, the rule which prohibits the serving of drink to any person in the slightest degree intoxicated, serves to prevent excess, and that rule is strictly enforced. The inspection and co-operation of the police are courted in every way. Every effort is made to sell a thoroughly wholesome and pure beer. FUTURE WATER SUPPLY A regular system of sample-taking and testing is carried out, samples being taken without notice, from time to time, and forwarded to Birmingham for analysis, in cases marked with numbers only, so that the analyst cannot tell from what brewers the beers are purchased." " As to the social results, the canteen has on the whole been very popular with the men, particularly the steadier portion of them, but undoubtedly the more le Social rowdv element have found their Result. 11- way to other places where there is less regulation. For instance, the prohibition of games and singing in the canteen tends to keep away the men who look to the public house as a place of amusement rather than merely as a place of refreshment, and while it cannot be said that the attempt to regulate the drink traffic has created a Utopia, it may be asserted, and, indeed, it is claimed, that the evil results of drinking have been reduced to a minimum. Persons qualified to judge speak in the highest terms of the results of the experiment." OF BIRMINGHAM. 155 Mr. Edmund Gwynne, the Chief Constable of Breconshire, in whose county the village and canteen are situated, in reply to a question of Mr. Lees, wrote him on October 5th, 1896, as under: — " In reply to your letter of the 29th September, drunkenness in the Elan village is undoubtedly sup- pressed through the stringent rules and measures adopted at the canteen, and further, I have no hesitation in saying it is attributable to those regulations ;" and, in a further communication dated June 14th, 1898, he says: "Drunkenness has slightly increased in the village; I do not, however, think it is attributable to any bad manage- ment of the canteen. I still adhere to my former opinion expressed in my letter to you dated October 5th, i8g6." "The takings at the canteen vary consider- ably. It was opened in September, 1894, but at that time the works were not fully started. Taking the beginning of the year 1896 as representing the ^''pro^Jts"" commencement of the full opera- tions, the takings have varied from a mini- mum of ;^4i to a maximum of £126 per week. 156 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY The takings usually run up during a holiday time, when the wages are lower; indeed, this coincidence of lower wages and high canteen takings is a constant feature. The total sales from the time of opening to March 31st, i8g8, amounted to ^^14,750, the pur- chases for the same period being £g,2^o, giving a gross profit of ;^5,5oo. The work- ing expenses amounted to £1,932, and there was in addition set aside to cover the cost of the building a sum of 1^305, leaving a net profit of ^^3,262, that is about 22 per cent, on the turnover. The original cost of the building, including fittings, was /720. To this must be added say £iS^ for stock, giving a total capital of 1^870. The sum of ;^i,ooo may, therefore, be assumed as ample capital for the business, and on an assumed capital of this amount the earnings for 3J years show a profit on capital of a fraction over 93 per cent, per annum. The under- standing with the magistrates provides for the application of the profit to the good of the village community, and the profit up to date has been applied in the following manner : — " OF BIRMINGHAM. 157 "The village day school has received /730, this amount representing the whole cost of the school beyond the Government grants, and including a due proportion of the cost of the school building." "The expenses connected with the public rooms and staff institute have absorbed ;/^i,5io, this amount covering the salary of the missioner and a proportion of the original cost of the rooms, also the provision in the recreation room, of free library, read- ing-room, bagatelle, gymnasium and table games. £igo has been applied to cover a deficiency on the bath house account. ;^7oo has gone towards the expenses of the acci- dents hospital, and grants have also been made for the provision of recreation grounds and for other purposes connected with the social well-being of the people." " As the village is insufficient in ■^.r.^^c i. 1 , Farm-house Itself to accommodate the whole Accommo- of the workers, considerable num- bers lodge in the farm-houses around, some of which have been enlarged by the addition 158 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY of wooden annexes, and in all cases the number of lodgers permitted is defined, and made a condition of the tenancy on the Corporation estate. This regulation was found necessary to prevent over- crowding, as at first some gross cases of the kind transpired." " In addition, a few huts have been erected adjoining the principal works on the upper reaches of the river ; the resi- dents in these are in most cases too remote from the village to be able to derive advan- tage from its institutions. This difficulty particularly asserted itself in connection with the children— the distance from the school, in the case of one of the settlements, being no less than seven miles. To meet this difiiculty a special railway carriage has been provided which brings the children down by train in the morning, and takes them back in the afternoon, and it is scarcely necessary to say that, since that arrangement was brought into operation, there has been no difficulty in securing the attendance of the youngsters concerned." OF BIRMINGHAM. 159 "Since the village and works are situate on the banks of the Elan ^"'^^'^ 1 . . ' supply. an elevation suited for the supply of water to Birmingham is insufficient for them, and consequently, it was necessary to construct a small reservoir on one of the tributary streams by building a little dam across its valley at a convenient point ; a small reservoir is thereby constructed with the capacity of about one million gallons. From this reservoir the water is conveyed in pipes into the village and into the work- shops, and from these again tanks are filled from which the locomotives, steam cranes, and other steam machinery derive their supplies." i6o FUTURE WATER SUPPLY CHAPTER IX. The construction of the reservoirs on the Elan— THE aqueduct to Birmingham, and the reservoir and filter beds at Frankley, with PARTICULARS OF THE VARIOUS WORKS CONNECTED THEREWITH. It will have been seen from page 41 that the intention of the Corporation is eventu- ally to build six reservoirs, the main dam for compensation and supply, at Caban Coch (Red Cabin), and a series of five higher up the streams, two of these to be situated on the Elan and three on the Claerwen. To provide for the first instalment of 27 million gallons a day, the three reservoirs on the Claerwen will not be required. The engineers are, therefore, for the present con- fining their attention to the construction of the reservoir at Caban Coch, and the two others in the upper reaches of the Elan. OF BIRMINGHAM. i6i In August, 1894, the foundations of the Caban dam on the Brecon- T'^^J^"- shire side were excavated, and in Reservoir, the year following those on the Radnorshire side were also commenced. The whole of the excavations are now prac- tically completed, with the exception of that portion which constitutes the river course. In August, 1896, the building of the dam itself was commenced, and from that time until now the work has been carried on uninterruptedly, except when the weather has been so rough as to compel the workmen to suspend operations. The Brecon culvert, 16 feet in diameter, was completed, and that portion of the dam lying on the Brecon side was brought up to the level of 730 feet o.d., or 65 feet above the lowest part of the foundations, in July, 1897. It is intended to put the Radnorshire part of the dam in hand during this year, and to commence with the central portion early in 1899. The greatest difficulty which the engineers have had to encounter in carrying out this i62 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY section of the undertaking, has been in deal- ing with the storm water, but the trouble on that head is now practically at an end. Pipes will be laid through the The com- culverts capable of paying compen- •"""an'f sation water into the river (see foundation nage ^q), and when the work is stones. F & -J^/' complete the culverts, with the exception of the compensation pipes and the valves connected therewith, will be closed by a breastwork of steel. At the side of one of the culverts. Sir James Smith, at that time Lord Mayor, laid a commemoration stone on May 28th, 1897. This stone is 25 feet above the level of the foundation stone which was laid by Mr. Alderman Lawley Parker, Chairman of the Committee, on October 8th, 1896. The distance across the top of the Caban dam will be about 600 feet, and the height from the bed of the river to the crest, 122 feet. As will be seen from the illustration, the construction of the dam on the upstream side is nearly perpendicular, being vertical OF BIRMINGHAM. some little way from the bottom, and sloping upwards for the remaining distance, while the down stream face will be a flowing curvilinear slope, the thickness at the base being practically the same as the height. In time of flood, when the storm water rushes over the crest and falls to a depth of over 1 20 feet, the dam at Caban Coch will present the appearance of a magnificent waterfall. 1 64 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY Before commencing the work on ^Railway"** the dams Careg-ddu, Pen-y-gareg, and Craig -yr-allt-Goch, situate higher up the stream, it was necessary to further extend the railway, which at some points of its construction had to be cut out of the sohd rock. The Hne of rails passes the doss house junction round by the Foel mountain and then makes its way onwards by the future bank of the Pen-y-gareg reservoir. The formation of the railway and the necessary road diversions, the latter opera- tion involving the removal of enormous quantities of earth, were actively pushed forward. In April, 1895, the railway was so far completed as to enable the workmen to commence the excavations for the Pen-y- gareg dam, that being the second in the series of reservoirs on the river Elan, and in August of the same year, the waggon roads were completed to Careg- ddu. A system of backshunts (a sort of zig-zag railway to allow of quick descent and ascent) was here required to reach the OF BIRMINGHAM. 165 site of the submerged dam ; as soon as this was accompHshed, and the means of loco- motion provided, the work in connection with the dam was at once commenced. The engineers were hindered for some time at the deep cutting beyond Pen-y-gareg, and it was not until June, i8g6, that the railway reached the third reservoir in the series on the Elan. The length of the railway is about eight miles, it rises some 275 feet during that distance, and has two steep gradients. The preliminary work of making the rail- way and road having been got through, the construction of the dams is now being vigorously proceeded with. The excavations for the dam at The Pen-y-gareg were finished by the Pen-y-gareg end of 1896, and the masonry was Reservoir, then commenced. During the winter it was found impossible to do much in the way of building, but in March, 1897, the work progressed more actively, and during the remainder of that year was pushed well i66 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY forward. By December the culvert, i8 feet in diameter, was completed, and the river diverted through the dam. This dam is intended to have a height of 123 feet; the top-water level will be 945 feet above o.d., and the reservoir, when full, will contain over 1,300 million gallons of water. The base of this dam will be on practically the same level as the top water of the Caban reservoir. , . r In July, 1897, the excavations ot The the Craig-yr-allt-Goch (Crag on the S;v'ot red height) dam, the highest of the three on the Elan, were put in hand and pushed forward as energetically as possible, but here because of the wildness of the situation, the work was necessarily hindered to a greater extent than was the case with the other dams. The tunnel, after being driven through the dam, was lined, and the river diverted through the culvert on the 29th January, 1898 ; building operations were commenced in the dam itself by the 4th April, 1898. The dam, when finished, will have a length of over 500 feet from side to side, will OF BIRMINGHAM. 167 measure 128 feet from the bed of the river to the crest, the top-water level will be 1,040 feet above o.d., and the reservoir, when full, will contain 2,000 million gallons, form- ing a lake two and a half miles in length. In June, 1896, the masonry of the submerged dam was put in ° ^ Submerged hand, and by December, 1897, Dam. two-thirds of the work was com- pleted. It is expected that by the end of the year 1898, the whole of the masonry will be out of hand, and the piers of the viaduct brought to springing level. The viaduct will be supported on high masonry piers 40 feet above the crest of the dam, and when built it will replace the old submerged roads and provide a passage across the reservoir. The submerged dam being a unique engineering expedient well deserves a few words of special explanation. To under- stand its uses it must be remembered that Frankley, the receiving reservoir at Birming- ham, is 600 feet above the level of the sea. i68 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY and in order to bring the water thither from Wales by gravitation it is necessary that there should be a fall of 170 feet from the Elan reservoir to Frankley. To obtain this fall, the commencement of the aqueduct should be 770 feet above o.d., and as the bottom of the Caban dam is only 700 feet above o.d., the invert (arched floor) of the Foel tunnel (see page 177) had to be placed 70 feet above the bed of the Caban reservoir. Since, however, this necessitated the storing of an enormous quantity of water, which could not be touched either for town supply or compensation purposes, the engineers have devised and built, some distance up the reservoir, a dam which they have placed just in front of the entrance to the aqueduct ; the crest of the dam being forty feet below top water-level, explains the use of the name "submerged " dam. By means of this arrangement the water is held up to a height of 82 feet above the bed of the reservoir, and is, therefore, about ten feet above the entrance to the aqueduct. When the Caban Coch reservoir is full, the water will be divided into three sections, viz., first, a -J U a? I 01 o 1/) a ii! o H S U Q H W o w o a: 0. a. O J — I H O W m 'A o y. W m -< M M O ^ o vO VO on 01 O O O 0 o o o O O ^£> O O O 1^0 1^ OOOOOOlDOOOOOOOOO o^ovooO'-'O^O'-'O'.ooyDoo OI^OI-^OOOOl^OOl^O'-^OO oooooooo OOOOOtOOO OOOOOI-^O^ o o o o o O O o o O O 1^ o o -t- T)- ■-.-)- ^ aooadoaaaacocsonccccjflcccccccccccccricc e^-*i m|» Hoi mi'#«j*r0lH-Hi^lx H« wfJ^J Hf» H" --b' H" c^-* H-* t^fao "njco wjD lOfB rJfXi t-|a) r-4aj nt* m^iC -471 -^71 t-|a) M rOM 01-1-01 OJt-iOi.-. ol-^t-i »-< t^o^ H "3 '3 o x) rt ni : p • ^c3 9 ^ O T3 U 3 2 o 3 o 0) 3 3 P O XI P o P PU OH ^ 3 X) 9 -3 X) < nj ^ \^ u O o Q o Q o < Q PQ 3 ^ .i^ O CO O en C 3 a) bo g o P CD p o 9 3 — c - ~ g > P ^ O It; to S'' 2 P-p 00. -H f._^ ? h a; J" oca > r; — ■- 3 R t;^ o P Sj '3 ■a _ Jp § 13 >i ^ r-i q CO 5 >,o u P H --^ H til CO ffi 3 1 « H P o p o p >^ p CO o a o CO 0) p 3 4J P P 13 1) O -p P 0 P P P 3 -P O P ^•gH P a! "-^ O >i 9 h 0) D 7^ n ^ > ^ E S o o o H p . OF BIRMINGHAM. i6g layer forty feet deep extending over the whole surface, representing 4,660 million gallons ; second, the water held up to a height of eighty-two feet behind the sub- merged dam, amounting in all to 440 million gallons, and lastly, a further body of water in front of the submerged dam, measuring 2, goo million gallons. Let us suppose the occurrence of a drought of 180 days, assuming the reservoir at the commencement of the drought to be full, Birmingham requires 27 million gallons for each day's consumption, and a further 27 million per day must be delivered for com- pensation purposes, making fifty-four in all. If, then, a calculation be made it will be seen that the top layer of water will be sufficient for both compensation and supply for a period of eighty-six days, but that when the water falls below the crest of the submerged dam, that beyond it on the Caban Coch side will be available for com- pensation purposes only, and there will be enough to provide for a period of consi- derably over ICQ days. The water for Birmingham during the remaining ninety- lyo FUTURE WATER SUPPLY four days of drought would then be drawn from the two upper reservoirs, and as these together will afford a supply of 3,300 mil- lion gallons, it will be seen that there is here a sufficiency of water for a period of more than 120 days. Clearly, then, we may rest satisfied that no inconvenience or difficulty maybe anticipated from a prolonged drought. Below the Caban dam a gauge apparatus is to be erected for measuring the quantity of compensation water discharged into the river, and here the Corporation will provide a house at a peppercorn rent to be occupied by an inspector whose business it will be to check the quantity of compensation water discharged into the river. Houses for care- takers will also be provided at the reservoirs. The geologists predicted that each of the dams would prove to have a good foundation, and that suitable stone would be found in the immediate neighbourhood for their con- struction ; unfortunately, neither prediction has been verified. The foundation of the Caban dam is silurian grit and conglome- foundations. j.^^^^ whilst the foundations of the OF BIRMINGHAM. Careg-ddu, Pen-y-gareg and Craig-yr-allt- Goch are slatey ; hence the engineers have been put to a great deal of trouble. Similarly, as to suitable stone being found on the ground, at the Caban dam only was stone found of the required quality, and for the other dams facing stone has had to be brought by rail. Further difficulty was, however, caused by the necessity for deeper excavations than were originally intended, owing to the unsoundness of the dam foun- dations. As a result, the estimated cost of construction has been exceeded. The stone required by the engineers for the building of the dams is grit and con- glomerate, and as this is obtainable from the quarry, they are enabled to find all the stone they need for the ^I"" ^^""^ Quarries. work except that portion required for facing the dams. The Cnwch quarry, from which the stone for the dams is obtained, is situate on the Brecon side of the river above the site of the Caban dam, and stones are conveyed thence to the masons' yard, the site for the latter having been chosen at 172 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY a spot so elevated as to prevent all danger from blasting accidents, etc. The Gigfran, another quarry in use, is situate on the other side of the river almost opposite the Cnwch. The composite material of which Cyclopean ^^^^ ^^-^^ is technically Rubble. called Cyclopean rubble, a term including what are called "plums," which are large rough stones obtained by blasting the rock, weighing up to five or six tons each. These "plums," which try the full capacity of the lifting cranes, are weighed automati- cally before being placed, the object being to enable the engineer to gauge the specific gravity of the material used. The Construction u „i^jj^s" ^re roughly dressed so as of the dams. ^ o j to make the cement and concrete adhere to them when embedded in the dam, in which they are placed at irregular inter- vals. The engineer takes the precaution to have a good stock of cyclopean rubble always on hand, in order to keep the men fully employed; hence it is not unusual to see at one time at the site of the Craig-yr- allt-Goch dam as much as 8,000 cubic yards of this material on the ground ready for use. OF BIRMINGHAM. In the construction of reservoirs the engineers lay down for them- selves the following very important conditions : — 1st. — They have to remember that the foundations are to be weight carriers. 2nd. — They have to ascertain that the foundations are water-tight, or as nearly so as possible. 3rd.— When satisfied on these points they consider they may then begin to build, but before doing so they must have a clear conception of the work before them. 4th. — In building a dam they ought never to lose sight of the fact that the execu- tion should always be better than the conception. Finally, these conditions will not be sufficient unless, as a practical engineer observes, " they are continually at it and spare nobody." The plant required for dealing with enormous masses of material '^''^ c^^uf '"^ Plant. such as are required for the build- 173 Conditions of Reservoir Building. 174 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY ing of reservoirs must necessarily be of a very powerful character. There are at the Elan works several installations of crushing plant, most (if not the whole) of which have been devised specially by the engineers. One of these deals with eighty tons of rough stone in a day. The stone is first wheeled into a hopper, is then broken up and after- wards automatically delivered into trucks in various degrees of comminution. Another of these crushing engines will break up as much as 140 tons in a day. Each of these installations, which accomplishes so much, only requires the services of eight workmen, the rock being brought in trucks close to the crushing plant by an engine. It may be observed here, in illustration of the skilful organisation of these large works, Skilful where over 1,000 men are em- Organizatlon. ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ operations only seven horses are in use, though one or two more will be required later on as the work increases. The devices for the saving of labour and time and for the furtherance of economical OF BIRMINGHAM. 175 construction are both numerous and ingenious. In this category ^ind^Smmer may be mentioned the compressed air apparatus, known on the ground as the " wind-jammer," which needs only two men, the driver and stoker, at each station for its management. By means of tubes the power is carried to a long distance for a diversity of operations. In one direction it will be found drilling the rock for blasting in the tunnel, where it is again brought into use for clearing out the foul air. In another direction it will be seen driving the drills in the quarries, where stone of various sizes, including the "plums," are detached for building operations. In the same way its power is brought into use for excavating the foundations of the dams, and it is employed for the steam hammers in the smithies. Indeed, so widely distributed is the plant that there are something like two miles of tubes employed from the one station, and the whole thing is so carefully handled that the power is practically the same at the farthest point as at that nearest the station. If steam were employed for the purposes enumerated, 176 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY instead of compressed air, it would be neces- sary to have many boilers at different points, and so great is the saving of compressed air over steam, that it is estimated the cost of the compressed air plant will be paid out of the savings in two years. To keep the men fully employed, and so promote the quick progress of the work and prevent the loss of workmen, special provi- sion has had to be made. The rainfall is frequent and heavy, and for the many wet and stormy days, sheds have consequently been provided for the protection of the masons and other workmen, while at such times as it is impossible to carry on other kinds of work, the men are employed in making the permanent roads required by the Act of Parliament. These have to be con- structed in various parts of the watershed above top-water level, to replace the old roads which will be submerged, and extend over something like thirteen miles in all. In going over the works there will be found groups of houses, one set of which is used by the timekeepers and inspectors, another OF BIRMINGHAM. 177 for the engineering staff at each of the stations, and so on. It is impossible to see the arrangements made for the execution of the work, and the accommodation of the workers, without coming to the conclusion that the organization has been most care- fully planned out under the direction of a master mind. The Foel tunnel starts from just The behmd the submerged dam, and Foei Tunnel passes through the mountain from , ^ Valve Tower. which it takes its name. It forms part of the aqueduct for carrying the water to Birmingham, and was, in the spring of 1898, more than half-way through. The driving is limited to two faces, and since the strata to be negotiated are hard slate at the inlet end, and hard lower silurian and conglomerate grit at the outer end, the progress of the work has thereby been greatly retarded. At the inlet end a valve tower will be built, by the use of which it is intended to control the flow of the water, and also to prevent floating matter from passing into the conduit. At the outlet end of the Foel tunnel the aqueduct really com- 178 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY mences, and it is, as already stated, composed of tunnel, cut and cover, and syphon work. The latter construction is so named because when the levels make it necessary for the iron pipes to descend and ascend, the down- ward pressure on the one side is sufficient to make the water rise to the same level on the other. At intervals there are syphon chambers whence the water flows ChamSs. from the tunnels and cut and cover into the pipes and syphons. These syphon chambers are constructed for six pipes, and by the use of an ingenious contrivance to prevent flooding or damage in case of a burst, the damaged pipes are made to close automatically, and an iron gate at the inlet of the chamber is made to drop after the manner of a portcullis. The floor and walls of the conduit Conduit. g^j.g lij^g^ ^ith blue brick backed with concrete, the roof is built of solid con- crete, and is mostly concave, but here and there it is flat, the latter construction being necessary where dingles or valleys have to be crossed, the conduit being in such parts carried on bridges. The top and sides of OF BIRMINGHAM lyg these portions of the conduit are bound together with iron bands. At the summit of each syphon there is a large valve to allow of the escape of im- prisoned air, which would retard the flow of the water, whilst there are also at important depressions wash-out valves which serve to remove any earthy matter which may be carried down by the running water. The rate at which the water will travel to Birmingham is rather less than two miles an hour, and any given portion of the stream in the conduit will therefore complete its journey in a day and a half. The aqueduct, as previously stated, ex- tends a distance of seventy-three miles to Frankley, and is now well in hand, most of the work having already been given out in sections to several contractors. The first portion, extending from Elan to Dolau, a distance of thirteen miles Doiau and five furlongs, is in charge of Mr. junneT W. A. Legg as Resident Engineer, and was commenced in June, i8g6, by i8o FUTURE WATER SUPPLY Messrs. John Aird & Son, who have already completed more than eight miles of the work. The second portion (Dolau to Knighton) ten miles one furlong, and the third (Knighton to Downton), nine miles four furlongs, are in the hands of Messrs. Morrison & Mason, Ltd., Mr.A.W.Brightmore being the Engineer in charge. Of this section, the first half of the Dolau Tunnel (four and a half miles long) and the Knighton Tunnel (two and a half miles) have been bored. In both cases the work was so skilfully carried out that when the time for joining up arrived, the centre lines from the two headings exactly coincided, a result very creditable alike to engineer and contractors. It should be explained, so as to give an idea of the skill and care required in carrying out this work, that the tunnels were started at the bottom of deep shafts at either end, and because of the gradient thence to Birmingham, the borings had thus to be commenced at different levels. Tenders are now being invited for the construction of the fourth section of the aqueduct from Downton to Cleobury, a length OF BIRMINGHAM. i8i of fourteen and a half miles, wherein is included the TemeValley syphon. '^^syp^^n"^ For this section about 14,000 tons of iron pipes will be required. The fifth section (Cleobury to Hagley) is a syphon of over seventeen miles in length, which in its passage to Birmingham will cross the rivers Rea, Severn and Stour. The main arch of the bridge, destined to carry the aqueduct sSsyphl. over the Severn will have a span of over 150 feet, and a clear headway of thirty-two feet. The hydraulic gradient at that point is 638, and since the pipes laid on the bridge are only ninety-eight feet above O.D., there will be on the pipes a pressure of 540 feet, or, as the engineer estimates, a force equal to a pressure of 234 lbs. on the square inch. To make this quite clear, and to show the difficulties of con- struction, it should be borne in Hydraulic Gradient. mind that the entrance to the aqueduct at the submerged dam is 770 feet above the level of the sea, and that the line of the conduit gradually descends until when it reaches Frankley it is only 600 feet i82 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY above sea level. This fall is called the hydraulic gradient. For constructive pur- poses the fall is made to vary at intervals, thus, in the tunnels and cut and cover work the incline is only i in 4,000 to i in 3,016, whilst in the syphon or pipe line it is i in 1,760 to I in 1,600. The reason for the fall being made greater in the pipes than in the other parts of the aqueduct is that they offer more resistance to the passage of the water flowing through them than do the tunnels and cut and cover. It must also be remembered that since the rivers to be crossed flow through valleys lying much below the level of the surrounding country, the line of conduit instead of making a gradual descent has, at these points, to descend from a high to a low level and, after reaching the other side of the valley, again ascend so as to reach that level at which the conduit would have been carried had there been no valley to be traversed. For example, as will be seen by a glance at the aqueduct section given in the excellent map prepared by Mr. Mansergh, and reproduced by his permission, the Ime OF BIRMINGHAM. 183 of conduit before its descent of the Severn valley is 665 feet above sea level, but when it reaches the bridge which will be specially constructed to carry the pipes over the river, its height above sea level will be only ninety-eight feet. Had there been no valley to descend, the height of the conduit at the crossing of the "^j?^ o Crossing. Severn would have been 638 feet above sea level, but since the river intervenes, the water must be carried through the pipes at a depth of 540 feet below its proper course, and having been conducted over the bridge at that low level, it has to be forced up again until it reaches conduit level at Hagley, 608 feet above sea level. The total length of this descent and ascent is rather more than seventeen and a half miles, and the engineer considers it to be necessary to use steel pipes for this section of the aqueduct, because of the enormous pressure put upon them ; the contract for the supply of these pipes has been entrusted to Messrs. Piggott and Sons, of Birmingham. The laying of these steel pipes will, contrary to the usual plan which requires each contractor i84 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY to lay as well as provide the pipes, be dealt with in a separate contract, the rule having been departed from to meet the special exigencies of the case. It remains to be said in reference to the aqueduct that when the contract for the Downton and Cleobury Mortimer section has been given out, fifty-one out of the seventy-three and a half miles of conduit will then be in progress. For economical reasons the aqueduct was not begun until some time after the com- mencement of the construction of the reservoirs, for the reason that the latter would require a much longer time for con- struction than would the former operations. If both had been begun at the same time a considerable amount of capital would have been expended on the aqueduct before it was needed, whilst as it is, so carefully have the two undertakings been planned that it promises to be a neck-and-neck race as to which shall be first completed. The date fixed by Act of Parliament for the completion of both is June 22nd, 1902, and it is confidently OF BIRMINGHAM. expected that both aqueduct and reservoirs will be well out of hand by that date. In May, 1897, the contract for the Frankley reservoir and filter beds was let to Mr. Abram Kellett. The site of these covers a space of three-quarters of a mile in one direc- 1 J i. -1 • The Frankley tion and one and a quarter mile m Reservoir, another. Sheds have been erected at various points, and about 400 men are already engaged, a number which will be increased later on to 800 or 1,000. Mr. F.W. Macaulay is the Resident Engineer under Mr. Mansergh, at Frankley, and it is his business to see that the work is properly carried out. The conduit will deliver the water into a gauge-chamber from which it will flow into the reservoir, the latter being semi-circular in shape, and capable of holding some 200 million gallons of water. The eastern wall of the reservoir will be about thirty-five feet in height, and 1,654 feet long ; the water area of the reservoir will be about twenty-five acres, and its depth upwards of thirty feet. It will be divided by a wall into two quadrant-shaped sections, i86 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY and one or both of these will be used as required. The walls will have a curved face, and be formed of concrete faced with blue brick; between will be a thin layer of asphalt, whilst the bottom will consist of concrete, covered with a layer of asphalt. The water will be delivered into "^^^ a series of quadrangular filter Filter Beds. ^ , . . , ^ , beds, of which eighteen will be sufficient for present requirements, whilst others are to be constructed as necessity arises. These filter beds will range from 150 to 220 feet square, and together will form a filtering area of 67,000 square yards. The filtering medium will consist of a layer of sand on top of graduated layers of gravel. The water after filtration will be warieyand received into a tank, from which Northfieid ^-ji delivered into the supply Reservoirs. ^ . 1 /- mains for distribution to the City direct, and part will be pumped into the reservoirs at Warley and Northfieid for the supply of those portions of the City which are at too high an elevation to be supplied by gravitation from Frankley. OF BIRMINGHAM. 187 From the foregoing it will be seen that all the preliminary work of acquiring land and easements, laying down railways, housing workpeople and their families, the installa- tion of plant, the excavation of sites for reservoirs, the making of roads to take the place of those which will be submerged, to- gether with the complete organization of the staff in the Elan Valley and at Birmingham has now been accomplished, and that the building of the reservoirs and construction of the aqueduct are making rapid progress. The financing of so important a scheme, involving as it does the expenditure of several millions of money, is a very serious undertaking, and this also is being well looked after. Furthermore, the husbanding of our local supplies of water, so as to prevent a further heavy expenditure of capital during the construction of the works and the bringing of the new supply to Birmingham, is a matter of great moment, since careless- ness here would result in useless capital expenditure. 1 88 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY It is not too much to say that in each and all of these important particulars, every- thing has been done, and is being done, to carry the project through in a most success- ful manner, and the inhabitants of the City of Birmingham are to be congratulated on the public spirit shown by those who are responsible for the present satisfactory con- dition of the undertaking. It is impossible to make any reference of this kind without speaking of the Water Committee, which includes amongst its members some of the most able and zealous workers in the City Council. Special men- tion should be made of its Chairman, Mr. Alderman Lawley Parker. The expectations which his previous training and proved capacity led the public to form at the time of his appointment have been abundantly realized. He has shown himself a worthy successor to Sir Thomas Martineau, whose loss was felt so keenly by his colleagues and by all his fellow citizens that it appeared to be almost irreparable. His name must ever be associated with the beneficent scheme which his advocacy and constructive ability did so much to forward. OF BIRMINGHAM. 189 The City and Council have already since the appointment of their Secretary, Mr. E. Antony Lees, shown their appreciation of his ability, and it is very fortunate for the City that at such an important crisis in its history they can command the services of so able an administrator as Mr. Lees has proved himself to be. In the comparatively short time during which he has been engaged on the work, Mr. Lees has, under the direction of the Committee, been the means of organizing a clear system of finance in the Elan Valley and in Birmingham. By the method adopted a perfect check is kept upon the expenditure, and a great saving has been effected both in the prevention of waste in the consumption of water, and in the loss of revenue from that and other causes. Of Mr. James Mansergh, the able water engineer, who directs the whole of the opera- tions in connection with the Elan Valley scheme, it is only necessary to say that he has, by the work already accomplished, enhanced, if that were possible, the great reputation which he held previous to his igo FUTURE WATER SUPPLY appointment, and he has shown that the Water Committee acted with great wisdom in selecting him as their engineer. Mr. Mansergh is well seconded by an excellent staff, but special mention ought to be made of the Resident Engineer in charge of the whole of the works in the Elan Valley, Mr. G. N. Yourdi. His previous experience has been very considerable, and his talents in devising special machinery to meet engineering difficulties is only equalled by his'' ability in other directions. He is ever on the lookout for original methods to enable him to turn out the work with effectiveness, with expedition, and at the lowest possible cost. With these favourable conditions there is every reason to hope and expect that this great scheme— the greatest of its kind that has ever been attempted in this country- will be carried through to a successful issue and that, by the year 1902, the time named in the Act of Parliament, the inhabitants of the city of Birmingham and district may count upon the acquisition of the priceless blessing of a perennial supply of pure water. OF BIRMINGHAM. igi CHAPTER X. Notes on the new Liverpool and Manchester WATER UNDERTAKINGS, WITH SOME PARTICULARS OF THE PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE London water supply. The Liverpool Water Supply. Since (both because of the distance the water has to travel and on account of the large sum of money to be expended) the Birmingham Water Scheme is of such vast dimensions it may be worth while to show how the undertakings of Liverpool and Manchester, both of which have been completed since the issue of the previous edition of this book, and which in many ways resemble the Birmingham scheme, have been carried out. By the courtesy of Mr. Joseph Parry, C.E., Engineer to the Liverpool Corporation, and Mr. William Blackstock, Secretary to the Manchester Corporation Waterworks, I am enabled to give the following particulars : 192 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY In the year 1877 the Water Liverpool Committee of the Liverpool City water supply. ^^^^^.^^ ^^^.^^ ^^^^ ^^^.^ ^^^^^ resources were proving inadequate for the future supply of the city and district, instructed their engineer to report upon the river Vyrnwy, in Wales, as a new source of supply. This report being satisfactory, two years later a scheme was promoted by the City Council for obtaining water from the Vyrnwy. In 1880 the Act of Parliament was obtained authorizing the construction of the works, and, in September of the same year, the engineers were instructed to com- mence operations. The dam at Vyrnwy, the filter beds at Oswestry, and the conduit to Preston were completed in 1891, but the distribution of the water to the inhabitants was delayed until July, 1892, a year later, because of a leakage in laying the pipes under the river Mersey. In constructing Lake Vyrnwy it was necessary to impound the water, thus forming an artificial lake, the extent of which is four and three-quarter miles in length by an average of half a mile OF BIRMINGHAM. 193 in breadth. It is said to be the largest artificial sheet of water in the world, and adds greatly to the beauty of the landscape. Its greatest depth is ^description of o r . 1 • Lake Vyrnwy. 04 feet and its contents in gallons 13,125 millions. The site of the lake is what was the upper valley of the Vyrnwy, and its construction necessitated the removal of the village and church of Llanwyddin. A dam was built at the south-eastern end of the valley to confine the water, the total length of which is 1,172 ft., while the base is 120 ft. in thickness, and the total height from the foundation to the top is 161 ft. At the top is a fine carriage road, with a tower at each end ; this carriage road is 20 ft. wide, and is supported on a series of elliptical arches, the span of each being 24 ft. The apparatus for supplying the Vyrnwy with compensation water consists of revolv- ing hoppers, each of which contains a measured quantity of water, and in its turn, when full to the brim, by its own weight empties itself into the river Vyrnwy. The amount discharged is as follows Daily, 10 million gallons, and once a month, 194 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY 40 million gallons per day on four successive days, during eight months of the Compensation ^^^^^ equal to a daily average of 3,506,000 gallons. The total average quantity of compensation water per day for the year is, therefore, 13,506,000 gallons. The roadway is continued right round the lake, forming a unique carriage drive of about 12 miles ; wherever it has been necessary to carry the road over the waters of the lake, handsome stone arches have been built. In the lake itself a graceful spiral tower has been erected, from which the conduit to Liverpool commences. This tower, which is quite an artistic feature of the works, is 154 ft. high and tapering in shape, its diameter at the base being 30 ft. The water, which is drawn from the upper surface of the lake, is strained by straining means of a revolving wire cage " arrangement in the interior of the tower before it starts through the tunnel on its journey to Liverpool. The watershed is 18,000 acres Area of -^^ extent, but the Corporation, in watershed. ^^^.^ ^^^^^ ^.^^^ ^^^^ secured OF BIRMINGHAM. 195 the right to take a larger area, and when the scheme is complete, the watershed of the lake will extend to 23,200 acres. The distance from Lake Vyrnwy to Prescot is 68 miles, and from Prescot to the Town Hall, Liverpool, another nine miles, making 77 in all. The top water of the lake is 825 ft. above sea-level, and since Prescot is only 308 ft. above sea- level, the water travels by gravita- brought by tion and in its course passes through gravitation. 4i miles of tunnels and the rest of the distance through iron pipes, having a diameter of 38 in. to 42^ in., according to the available head in the different sections. (For an account of the filtering beds at Oswestry, and the construction of the aqueduct, see page 65.) The total quantity of water available from the Vyrnwy, 40 million gallons per day, will be conveyed in three instalments c n- ,1 , , Present supply ot 13 million gallons each by three and future pipes, one only of which has at '■^^""'■"s. present been laid. The average quantity of water drawn from the Vyrnwy for the igS FUTURE WATER SUPPLY year 1896 was 10,149,000 gallons per day, the total supply of 22,287,000 gallons required being made up as follows : — From wells 4,350,000 gallons. „ Rivington Pike ... 7,788,000 „ Vyrnwy 10,149,000 Making a total of ... 22,287,000 gallons. The total cost of the first instalment of 13 million gallons was ^2,180,000, and ^ , , each future instalment is expected Cost of / present and to COSt ^750,000, a SUm whlch Will future supplies, include the outlay for the necessary additional works at the reservoir. It may be added, in confirmation of the statement on page 11, that the Liverpool Corporation has been obliged to cease drawing water from the deep well at Bootle, because of the organic impurity and excessive hard- ness of the water which it yields. The Vyrnwy water is filtered (as will be the Birmingham supply) and as a further precaution, Mr. Parry, the engineer, makes a daily test by means of the " tintometer." OF BIRMINGHAM. igy With this instrument he can ascertain the colour of both the top and bottom water at Vyrnwy, and also of the water at Oswestry, before it enters the filtering beds and after- wards. He further tests it at Liverpool, and by means of his tabulated reports, he is enabled both to test the efficiency of the filtering beds, and to determine whether there is any abnormal condition of the water either at the lake itself, or at any point 671 route. The New Supply for Manchester. On July 4th, 1877, the Water Committee of the Manchester Council brought forward a scheme for conveying the water from Lake Thirlmere, in Cumber- iWanchester , J , , Water Bill, land, to supply the inhabitants of Manchester and district. The permission of the Council to take the necessary steps for carrying into effect their recommenda- tion was requested and, consent having been given, a bill was prepared. In December, 1877, it was deposited in the private bill office of the House of Commons, powers ig8 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY being sought to construct the works and raise the necessary capital— a sum Opposition to estimated at l^A^S,^^^- There the scheme. considerable local opposition, and, at the Statutory Meeting of the owners and ratepayers of the city, held in the Town Hall, a small minority demanded a poll, which was taken, with the following results : For the scheme 43 » 3^2 Against 3)530 Majority 39,832 In addition to the local opposition, a Thirlmere Defence Association, formed of those persons up and down the country who, on sesthetic grounds, objected to the Manchester Corporation interfering with the natural beauties of the lake, was appointed, and in all thirty-three petitions against the Bill were presented. Some of these oppo- nents were very wroth. The Bishop of Carlisle wrote to the Times, and in his letter said : — " The time may come when, instead of a trip to the lakes, we shall hear of a trip to the tanks, or a month at the reservoirs." OF BIRMINGHAM. 199 Professor Ruskin said : — '* Manchester should be at the bottom of Thirlmere, as it was a plot to steal and sell the waters of Thirlmere and the clouds of Helvellyn." The Water Committee of the Corporation were known as "the Vandals," who had gone to destroy the district. The enormous undertaking was viewed with ridicule by the country people of the district, one of whom was heard to say, pointing to Alderman Grave, the then Chairman of the Committee : — "The owd fellow has gittin't intul his heid to take t'watter fra Thirlmere ta Manchester." " Has he," responded another country- man, " Why, theear's nut munny aneuf in aw t'world as wad deuh't." The Times, Saturday Review, Standard, Pall Mall Gazette, Yorkshire Post, and Medical Press and Examiner were all against the Corporation, but the Daily News, to its credit, spoke in their favour. FUTURE WATER SUPPLY The Bill, in its progress through Parlia- ment, met with many difficulties, and for that reason the Corporation failed to get it through in one session, and, as a con- sequence, it had to be re-introduced into Parliament at an enormous cost. It was not until May 23rd, 1879, that it received the Royal assent. Even after the Act was obtained, many difficulties had to be faced. Of these no better illustration can be given than the following. It was necessary to raLdTn acquire the Countess Ossalinsky's Land property, which consisted of five Purchase. ^ •••no farms, contammg m all 850 acres, and of 714 acres on Armboth Fells, of which Mr. Jackson, the grandfather of the Coun- tess, and the copyholder, had purchased the manorial rights. The rental derived by the Countess was only a Httle over ;^50o per annum, and its value was estimated, on what was considered a liberal scale by the Corporation, at from ^20,000 to ^25,000. The valuations made on behalf of the Countess ranged from OF BIRMINGHAM. 20I £y 2,000 to ;^ioo,ooo — these figures being based upon the suitability of the land FOR waterworks PURPOSES! Since these figures were so wide, the appointment of an arbitrator under the Lands' Clauses Act, 1845, was unavoidable. Under this Act, unless both sides agreed upon an arbitrator, each party had to nominate one. The Corporation tried to arrange with the Countess so as to agree upon a sole arbitrator, but she would only consent to this course on the condition that one of four gentlemen, whom she nominated, was appointed. The Corporation, thinking they could trust one of the four, acquiesced ' in his appointment. At the Court of Enquiry, held in London on the 13th October, 1881, seven valuers upon oath gave the valuations set forth upon page 202, and on the 17th August, 1882, the valuations on page 203 were submitted on oath by the assessors appointed by the Corporation : — 202 FUTURE WATER SUPPLY O I— I H < O o u w H c/) W u H O CO o cn W H O o o hi o c/2 If) I— ( < CO O tn (/) H • ;z; o u Pi O cn 7^ O t— ( H <: P > • a: ^ V tU > a; a, o op-o OW " o o o o o 00 M u-1 CO 1^ C< o CI -a- m 00 o a o£ O <2 rt O 0^ =1 (1^ o Z o in o in o m o in >n =a o m o o M o in o> m 00 m M Ol o M -1- o PO m CO >n o O o .S 55 •a a u > ■♦^ C3 a J3 o a a o d o cn Xi o a a a o U) 3 53 cn B O O e o H B cS 6 ^ (U 1-< O) slip's S °3 z a o •a c — — « s — S c o o H rt ui ™ O Qi ^ C ^ > -ti V — — •a ca rt o O 0)1-1 0 00 0 0 l-l Tt- XO 00 M 0 M in M 0 0» Ti- in in o> 0 w ■>!- m >n in m N N w N N in p) CO m o in O in O m o m «3 in in 10 in r*3 T3 vo 10 o •a *o •a o m '•B a o p» in a •a u O Q V) .2 0) to